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Beha’aloscha • June 1, 2018 • 18 Sivan, 5778 • Torah columns pages 24-25 • Luach page 25 • Vol 17, No 21

The Newspaper of our Orthodox communities

400-year-old US-Israel love affair is rooted in the Torah Students from HALB’s SKA HS for Girls were among Long Islanders on Fifth Avenue last year.

March on!

LIers, celebrating Israel, will flock to city on Sunday

By Yoram Ettinger, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs sraeli-U.S. relations have surged commercially and militarily since Israel’s establishment in 1948, and Israel enjoys a 71 percent favorability rating in America, according to the 2017 annual Gallup poll of favorability (compared to 24 percent for the Palestinian Authority). This has been achieved despite systematic pressure by all U.S. presidents — from Harry Truman through Barack Obama — and despite persistent criticism of Israel by the State Department, the New York Times and the Washington Post (all three opposed the 1948 establishment of the Jewish state) and other U.S. media.

U.S.-Israeli relations have dramatically expanded in defiance of conventional common sense, but consistent with and nurtured by the 400-year-old ideological, moral, cultural, religious and historical foundations of the United States, which have enriched the U.S.-Israeli saga, featuring a unique people-to-people, bottom-up relationship, with elected officials representing the wish of most constituents.

For example, on March 5, 1891 — antedating Theodor Herzl and the 1897 First Zionist Congress — President Benjamin Harrison received the William Blackstone Memorial, which called for the re-establishment of the Jewish state in the Land of the Bible:

I

“Palestine for the Jews.” The memorial was signed by more than 400 distinguished Americans, including the chief justice, additional Supreme Court justices, future President William McKinley, senators, congressmen (including the speaker of the House and the chairmen of the Ways and Means and International Relations committees), governors, mayors, university presidents, businessmen, clergy and editors.

The signatories were overwhelmingly Christian movers and shakers, who signed well before the emergence of a Jewish political lobby, reflecting the biblical JudeoChristian roots of the United States.

Seeds of the Blackstone Memorial, and the special affinity of the American people towards the Jewish state, were planted in 1620 when Pilgrims, stepping off the Mayflower, referred to themselves as “people of the modern-day Exodus” who had departed from “modern-day Egypt [Britain],” experienced a “modern-day Parting of the Red Sea [the Atlantic Ocean]” and arrived in “the modern-day Promised Land [America].”

Hence the 1,000-plus sites in the United States (towns, cities, national parks and deserts) bearing biblical names, such as 18 Jerusalems, 32 Salems (the ancient name of Jerusalem), 34 Bethels, 24 Shilos, 18 Hebrons, 12 Jerichos, Zions, Bethlehems, Mizpahs, Rehoboths, Carmels, Gileads, Moabs and so on.

The celebration continues in this week’s Star, pages 2–12

See US-Israel on page 8

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By The Jewish Star The world’s largest Celebrate Israel parade will fill Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue with tens of thousands of marchers and watchers this Sunday, June 3. As always, Long Island schools, shuls and other Jewish organizations will be well-represented.

The parade, from 54th to 74th streets and 11 am to 4 pm, is a must-do event for friends of Israel who will pour into the city from throughout the tri-state area and beyond.

The theme of this year’s parade, marking the 70th anniversary of the modern Jewish state, will be “70 and Sababa.” Shulamith girls joinWhen Israelis say ed the 2017 parade. something is sababa, they mean it’s awesome, fantastic or super, parade organizers explained, adding, “Israel, you are sababa!”

An independent event following the parade, “The Concert with a Message,” will take place at Central Park’s Summer Stage from 2:30 to 7:30 pm. This free event, feaSee March on on page 9

The Tomahawk STeak iS here!

See page 5

Israel salutes America: 70 who counted in 70 On the occasion of the Jewish state’s 70th anniversary, the Israeli embassy in Washington, in partnership with the JNS news service, celebrates 70 of the greatest American contributors to the U.S.-Israel relationship Many of the people and organizations chosen for this acknowledgement will be readily recognized by readers of The Jewish Star, others less so, but their powerful stories build a collective history that reflects the broad base of American love and support for the Jewish State.

This week, The Jewish Star publishes the first in a series that will cover all of the “70 who counted.”

Isaiah ‘Si’ Kenen (1905-1988) and AIPA 1 of 70

The small town of St. Stephen in maritime Canada is an unlikely birthplace for a giant of 20th-century pro-Israel leadership. Yet for Si Kenen, born there in 1905, Zionism was integral to his family heritage, and his life was defined by dedication to the Jewish state.

Kenen’s father had been an Orthodox Zionist, who had known Theodore Herzl and other Zionist leaders in Europe. Having immigrated to Canada from Kiev in the Russian Empire, the Kenens made their way to Toronto, where Si attended college and later found work as a journalist, later moving to Cleveland where, in 1941, he became head of a Cleveland Zionist chapter.

Kenen threw himself into Zionist work, becoming an information director of the Jewish Agency and then a member of Israel’s first UN delegation in 1949. In 1951, he set up the American Zionist Committee—soon to become AIPAC—convinced that a strong Israel would make America stronger. Kenen understood that, although now independent, the State of Israel faced enemies and many domestic challenges; it would require an organized force of American citizens to strengthen Israel and the US-Israel relationship.

Henrietta Szold speaking during the opening of the Hadassah Medical Center on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem.

Frank Sinatra with Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion in 1962, during Sinatra’s first world tour.

GPO

It was a brilliant assessment of the way Washington worked and a bold move, made at a time when some American Jews still preferred to keep quiet about their love of Israel.

raised one million dollars to open a student center in his name at the Hebrew University. All of these institutions remain active to this day.

What explains Sinatra’s love of Israel? Surely the New Jersey melting pot, and his Christian faith, played a part. But he also saw in Israel a quality that he greatly admired: moral and spiritual toughness—dusting yourself off after it seems as if you’ve gone down for the count— living to fight another day and, perhaps most of all, doing it your way.

Frank Sinatra (1915-1998) 2 of 70

One of the greatest singers of the 20th century, Frank Sinatra always had universal appeal. Although there is no Sinatra number called “Moonlight in Tel Aviv,” for his entire life, “Old Blue Eyes” was an ardent philo-Semite, an unstinting supporter of Zionism and the Jewish state. Indeed, as Sinatra’s long-time assistant wrote in a memoir, Israel was Mr. S’s “favorite country.”

Growing up in immigrant-heavy Hoboken, NJ, Sinatra developed a keen sense of the discrimination faced by Italian and Jewish newcomers to America. As Shalom Goldman wrote, Sinatra’s early life was filled with Jews. One nanny, a certain Mrs. Golden, spoke only Yiddish, causing him to later joke that he “knew

more Yiddish than Italian.”

By 1947, Sinatra had already long been one of the most famous singers in America. In contentious pre-state days, he lent his prestige to the cause, appearing at a pro-yishuv benefit concert at the Hollywood Bowl. Nor was Sinatra above getting his hands dirty. In 1948, he helped future Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kollek illicitly ship weapons from New York to Palestine. “I wanted to help [the Zionists],” he later recalled; “I was afraid they might fall down.”

Sinatra first visited Israel in 1962, on his first international tour, and he came to love the reality of the state as much as he loved the image he had developed of it. He marked Israel’s 40th birthday alongside David Ben-Gurion and Moshe Dayan, and gave a concert to paratroopers-in-training at Tel Nof. Sinatra returned frequently to Israel in later years and gave generously of his time and money to Israeli causes. He financed a Catholic church and youth center in Nazareth, and

Henrietta Szold (1860-1945) and Hadassah 3 of 70

An early American Zionist leader who was also learned in traditional Jewish texts and scholarship, Henrietta Szold was notably ahead of her time. Born to a Jewish family in Baltimore in 1860, Henrietta’s father was a rabbi who ensured that she received a Jewish education. As a result, she became involved in teaching, as well as in See 70 who counted on page 4

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3 THE JEWISH STAR June 1, 2018 • 18 Sivan

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From left: Nathan Straus, Louis Dembitz Brandeis and Stephen Samuel Wise

Continued from page 2 editing and publishing Jewish texts, an unheard form of scholarship for women at that time.

An example of her work, familiar to many English speakers who have studied Talmud, is the Marcus Jastrow’s Dictionary of the Talmud, which she edited. Szold also served as the sole female editor for the Jewish Publication Society, translating, editing and preparing works for publication.

Szold continued her formal Jewish education at Solomon Schecter’s Jewish Theological Seminary.

A committed Zionist since its early days, Szold visited Palestine for the first time in 1909 and immediately devoted herself to work for the betterment of its population. She founded an organization called Hadassah, which focused on improving health care in Palestine. Under Szold’s leadership, Hadassah created hospitals, nursing programs and facilities as well as many important health and education services.

Hadassah, also known as the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, continues to operate as one of the largest international Jewish organizations with well over 300,000 members in the United States. One notable leader was Miriam Freud-Rosenthal, who carried on Szold’s legacy in Hadassah until her death in 1999. Over the decades, the women of Hadassah have supported a number of programs and wide range causes, branching out from the initial immediate need of improving medical care in the early days of the Jewish community in Palestine.

Szold ensured that the medical programs founded and funded by Hadassah would be available for all residents of Palestine and subsequently the State of Israel, regardless of an individual’s race, ethnicity, or religion. Thus it was quite appropriate that Hadassah was involved in the opposition in 1975 to the UN General Assembly Zionism is racism resolution.

Szold came to Palestine to live permanently in 1933. A year later, she inaugurated the new Hadassah-funded hospital on Mount Scopus.

This is the same Hadassah Hospital which operates today as one of the central and foremost medical facilities in Israel.

Louis Brandeis (1856-1941) 4 of 70

Celebrates Israel’s 70th Anniversary with the entire community

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Living the American dream and following a path that would ultimately land him on the Supreme Court, Louis Brandeis had little time for Zionism in his early life and even held views that were antithetical to it.

But that changed in 1914, when Jacob de Haas, a former secretary to Theodore Herzl, came for what turned out to be an important visit. De Hass asked Brandeis if he was related to a prominent Kentucky Jew by the name of Lewis Dembitz, who was ardently and publicly both a Jew and a Zionist. This was indeed Brandeis’s uncle. Reflecting on this meeting and the noble conduct of his uncle, Brandeis began to recognize that there need not be a contradiction between Zionism and Americanism, and that Zionism and

Americanism in fact ennobled one another.

From then on, Brandeis passionately devoted his intelligence and influence to Zionism.

Over the course of World War I, he became an acknowledged leader of the American Zionist movement. Touring America and drumming up support for Zionism, he raised large sums of money for the yishuv.

Perhaps Brandeis’s greatest achievement came in 1917, as the British Government was weighing whether to issue the Balfour Declaration. He helped persuade President Woodrow Wilson that America should be entirely behind the declaration—and, by extension, favorable to a Jewish homeland.

Nahum Goldman, who would become president of the World Zionist Organization, stressed the centrality of the Brandeis intervention. Without Brandeis, he wrote, “the Balfour Declaration would probably never have been issued.”

In the first part of the 20th century, many sectors of American Judaism had been skeptical of Zionism. Precisely because Brandeis had once held this view himself, he was able to break it down through a powerful conviction that America and Zionism shared a commitment to justice, righteousness and liberty.

The Galilee kibbutz of Ein Ha’Shofet (“Spring of the Judge”) was established in honor of Louis Brandeis and stands as a permanent testament to his devotion to the State of Israel.

Elmo ‘Bud’ Zumwalt Jr. (1920-2000) 5 of 70

Elmo Russell “Bud” Zumwalt Jr. was a decorated war veteran who rose through the ranks of the U.S. Navy to serve as its youngest Chief of Naval Operations, commanding U.S. naval forces in the Vietnam War and modernizing many aspects of navy policy and strategy.

Admiral Zumwalt believed strongly that the United States should aid Israel in its conflicts with the surrounding Arab countries. During the Yom Kippur War in 1973, Zumwalt played a critical role in airlifting supplies to Israel that were a crucial factor in Israel’s victory.

In an oral history recorded in 1991, Zumwalt recounted that he approached Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger and conveyed to him that Israel was losing the war and would run out of ammunition in one or two days, and that it was therefore essential that America transfer supplies and equipment to Israel immediately. Lacking authority from President Nixon, Schlesinger said there was nothing he could do. Refusing to take no for an answer, Zumwalt turned to Senator Scoop Jackson to mobilize pressure on the Nixon administration. Zumwalt unhesitatingly risked his career by briefing Jackson every day, helping him to outmaneuver the opponents of resupply. His persistence paid off at the last minute when Nixon authorized a massive airlift using Air Force C-5 cargo planes.

See 70 who counted on page 6

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THE JEWISH STAR June 1, 2018 • 18 Sivan

Continued from page 4 Zumwalt was then directly involved with the logistics of actually getting the supplies to Israel, which proved to be no easy matter. He had to “lean pretty hard� on various nations who controlled essential airspace on the route necessary for transit and refueling. En route to Israel, the planes landed in the Portuguese Azores, refueled over Spain, and were supported by a fleet of ships based in Greek waters. All three nations were at that time controlled by indifferent or even hostile regimes. This massive airlift, known as Operation Nickel Grass, resulted in over 22,000 tons of weapons and supplies, including one hundred fighter jets being sent to Israel. In many instances, the supplies reached the front lines within a few hours of landing, directly contributing to Israel’s victory.

The operation could not have gone forward without the determined efforts of Admiral Zumwalt who, like Scoop Jackson, should be remembered for decisive action that helped save Israel in one of its most vulnerable moments.

ficials persuaded him of the enormity of the situation and of the vital importance of creating a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

Frustrated by the difficulty of raising money or gaining support from the High Commission, McDonald resigned in 1938 and went to work as an editorial writer at the New York Times, where he was an unrelenting voice for Zionism. Eventually, he returned to official service, co-authoring a report in 1945 that called for the immediate admission of 100,000 Jewish displaced persons to British Mandated Palestine, an idea that President Truman supported but the ruling British Labour Party opposed. Meeting the following year with British leaders, he implored them to adopt a more pro-Jewish attitude.

Two years later, President Truman appointed McDonald as U.S. Special Representative. Fighting with his Arabist State Department aides, he consistently argued for U.S. support and recognition for Israel and for admission of Jewish refugees from around the world. This battle continued when McDonald became the first U.S. ambassador to Israel.

Even after retirement, McDonald continued to advocate for American support for Israel. To that end, McDonald led a campaign for the purchase of $500 million in Israel bonds.

Explaining himself, he commented: “I am confident that it [Israel] will be a civilizing, modernizing and democratizing influence in the whole region.�

James Grover McDonald (1884-1964) 6 of 70

Few individuals have contributed as much to the cause of the Jews and Israel as James Grover McDonald. An unwilling witness to the pivotal events that led to the Holocaust, McDonald was a fervent and essential advocate for the creation of the Jewish state.

A native of Indiana, McDonald came from a family of hoteliers. Educated at Indiana University and then Harvard, McDonald spoke fluent German, given his mother was an immigrant from there. That skill served him well when he met with Nazi officials as U.S. representative to the League of Nations’ High Commission on Refugees.

Appointed in 1933, McDonald strove tirelessly to arrange for the transfer of Jews out of Germany. This required him to work closely with Chaim Weizmann. Conversations with Nazi of-

Albert Einstein and David Ben-Gurion.

GPO

immersed himself in music from an early age, eventually studying music at Harvard University. Some of Bernstein’s musical compositions have clear associations and references to Jewish themes. One of the most obvious is his first symphony, which he conducted at its premiere in 1944. Titled Jeremiah, it follows the life of the biblical prophet. In addition to a soloist singing lines in Hebrew from the book of Lamentations, the second movement’s music is instantly recognizable to Jewish ears as based on the cantillation of the haftarah.

From early on, Bernstein felt a strong connection to and passion for the people and land of Israel. Deeply affected by his first visit to Israel in 1947, he wrote to his mentor Serge Koussevitzky, “I am simply overcome with this land and its people.� In 1948, Bernstein led the Israel Philharmonic on a whirlwind tour of 40 concerts,

Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)

7 of 70 Leonard Bernstein was an American conductor, composer and pianist who became one of the most renowned figures in American musical history and world-famous as the conductor of the New York Philharmonic, as well as the composer for such Broadway musicals as West Side Story.

Born to Jewish immigrants in 1918, Bernstein

conducting under the threat of artillery fire from nearby enemy forces. At one concert, after being called offstage and informed about a possible incoming air raid, Bernstein immediately sat back down at the piano and continued to play.

His most important moment in Israel came on Nov. 20, 1948. The previous day, the United Nations ordered Israel to withdraw its forces from Beersheva, which they had captured a few weeks earlier. Israel refused, and the Israel Defense Forces remained entrenched in this strategic southern city.

The next day, Bernstein and the Philharmonic arrived and put on a concert for the thousands of soldiers holding fort. Held on a makeshift stage at the site of an archaeological dig, the concert was a moving experience for many of the soldiers and for Bernstein as well.

See 70 who counted on page 12

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US-Israel…

Continued from page 1 The prominent stature of the Bible and the Hebrew language among the early Pilgrims was demonstrated in 1640 by the first book written and printed in the New World, the Bay Psalm Book, which transcribed biblical psalms into metered verses. The seals of three of the first 10 universities — Yale, Columbia and Dartmouth — bear Hebrew inscriptions. he special sentiments towards the reconstruction of the Jewish homeland in the Land of Israel were further cultivated by the 18th-century Founding Fathers, who considered themselves to be “the people of the modern-day Covenant.” The iconic symbol of independence, the 1752 Liberty Bell, highlights a verse from Leviticus, 25:10: “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.” This verse refers to the Jubilee—the cornerstone of the biblical concept of liberty, a cardinal value in the history of the 50 states that is commemorated every 50 years.

In fact, the cement of the American Revolution was Thomas Paine’s Common Sense (Jan. 10, 1776): “For the will of the Almighty as declared by Gideon and the Prophet Samuel expressly disapproves of government by kings…”

Ezra Stiles, the president of Yale University (1778-1795) and a founder of Brown University, taught Hebrew, urging graduating students to be able to recite Psalms in the original language, “because that is what St. Peter will expect of you at the Pearly Gates.”

He called for “the reestablishment of the Twelve Tribes in Palestine.”

According to Professor Daniel Elazar, the concept of the U.S. Constitution was inspired by the Bible in general, and by the covenant between G-d and Abraham and Jacob in particular. The term “federal” was a derivative of the Latin word foedus, which is the biblical covenant. Moreover, Elazar opined that the first-ever continental republic was not ruled by an imperial ruler, but “through a system of dispersed democratic majorities, coupled with nationwide representation of both individuals and constituent states … [similar to] the federation of [the 12] tribes of ancient Israel.”

According to Alexis de Tocqueville’s 1830 Democracy in America, the United States practiced separation of religion and state, not religion and society. While a governmentsponsored religion risked discrediting religion, a society devoid of religion risked immorality and oblivion. According to Tocqueville, religion and liberty are mutually inclusive.

In 1967, Professor Robert Bellah wrote that the United States has a civil religion—a set of ethical principles based on the Bible, mostly Deuteronomy. The United States benefits from Bible-driven liberty, which is responsibility- and not rights-driven liberty for the common good. n 1925, President Calvin Coolidge stated: “Hebraic mortar cemented the foundations of American democracy…”

In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt remarked that “it would be difficult to appraise the far-reaching influence of [the translation of the Bible] upon the speech, literature, moral and religious character of our people and their institutions…

In fact, the Bible had a profound impact on the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the separation of powers (Moses, Aharon, the 70 elders, the tribal presidents), the checks and balances system, the requirement that the chief executive must be a native, that the capital city should not belong to any tribe/ state, the abolitionist movement (“Let my people go,” “Go down Moses”) and the general public discourse in the United States.

In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln stated: “The rebirth of Israel as a nation-state is a noble dream and one shared by many Americans.”

On June 30, 1922, the U.S. House and

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Images of U.S. and Israeli flags projected onto the walls of the Old City last December as President Trump announced the American embassy would relocate to Jerusalem.

Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/Getty Images

Moses is depicted holiding the Ten Commandments (see inset) at the very center of lawgivers above the east façade of the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington.

Jeff Kubina via WikiCommons

Senate ratified the League of Nations’ Mandate for Palestine, which codified the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine, in the entire area west of the Jordan River. President Warren G. Harding added his signature on Sept. 21, 1922. In 1925, the House, Senate and Coolidge ratified the 1924 Anglo-American Treaty, which approved the Mandate for Palestine.

On May 14, 1948, the U.S. radio icon and world traveler Lowell Thomas told his listeners: “Today, as the Jewish state is established, Americans read through the Bible as a historical reference book.”

On Dec. 24, 1968, Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon, entered the lunar orbit, and the three astronauts recited Genesis 1:1-10 in the most-watched TV broadcast at the time: “In the beginning, G-d created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form…

In 2001, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) welcomed the newly elected President G. W. Bush: “Mr. President, we trust that you shall lead us in the best tradition of Joshua and Caleb.” Pastor Nathan Baxter asked Bush, during the inauguration prayer at the National Cathedral, to unite the American people just like King David united the Jewish people.

In 2008, Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.V.), the president pro tem and a legislative giant, announced his retirement from the chairmanship of the Appropriations Committee by quoting Ecclesiastes 3:1: “To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.”

In 2009, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), the floor manager of Obamacare, complimented Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) during a press conference: “Senator Reid displayed the patience of Job, the wisdom of Solomon and the endurance of Samson.”

In 2014, Obama justified his decision to defer the deportation of 5 million illegal immigrants by quoting Exodus 22:21: “You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”

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n 2017, there were about 20 million copies of the Bible sold in the United States, which is almost double the number sold annually during the 1950s.

In 2018, the role played by the Bible in the shaping of the U.S. core values, legal and political systems, public discourse and general state of mind is still significant. This was demonstrated by the Nov. 17, 2017, opening in Washington (three blocks from Capitol Hill) of the largest Museum of the Bible in the world (430,000 square feet), featuring more than 40,000 artifacts, including 613 Torah scrolls.

In 2018, the statues of Joshua, King David and Judah the Maccabee stand at West Point Military Academy among “The Nine Worthies,” the nine top warriors in human history. The other “Worthies” are Alexander the Great, Hector, Julius Caesar, Godfrey of Bouillon, King Arthur and Charlemagne.

The battle cry of the Maccabees— “Whoever trusts God, join me!”—inspired the official motto of the United States: “In God We Trust.” Since 1996 the U.S. Postal Service has annually issued a Chanukah stamp commemorating an event: the second-centuryBCE rebellion of the Maccabees against the Seleucid Empire, the few against the many, which inspired the Founding Fathers’ revolt against the British Empire.

In 2018, the bust of Moses faces the speaker of the House (surrounded by 22 other busts of historical lawgivers, who stare at Moses). It is also found at the Rayburn House Office Building’s subway station and in the main reading room in the Library of Congress. Statues and engravings of Moses and the Ten Commandments are featured in the Supreme Court. Moses and/or the Ten Commandments feature in the U.S. federal courthouses in Cleveland and Indianapolis; the Supreme Courts in Harrisburg, Pa.; St. Paul, Minn.; Lansing, Mich.; and Knoxville, Tenn.; the county courthouses in Cleveland; West Chester, Pa.; Pittsburgh; Fort Wayne, Ind.; and Jackson, Miss.; the appellate court in Brooklyn,; the Boston Public Library; the State Capitol in Lincoln, Neb.; etc.

en Commandments monuments have been erected on the grounds of the state capitols in Texas (1961), Oklahoma (2012) and Arkansas (2017). On June 27, 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the 6-foot-high Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol. According to Chief Justice Rehnquist: “Religion has been closely identified with our history and government. … Acknowledgements of the role played by the Ten Commandments in our nation’s heritage are common throughout America. …

“Since 1935, Moses has stood, holding two tablets that reveal portions of the Ten Commandments written in Hebrew, among other lawgivers in the south frieze [of the U.S. Supreme Court]. … Representations of the Ten Commandments adorn the metal gates lining the north and south sides of the Courtroom as well as the doors leading into the Courtroom.

Moses also sits on the exterior east façade of the [U.S. Supreme Court] holding the tablets of the Ten Commandments. …

“Since 1897, a large statue of Moses holding the Ten Commandments, alongside a statue of the Apostle Paul, has overlooked the rotunda of the Library of Congress’ Jefferson Building.

A medallion with two tablets depicting the Ten Commandments decorates the floor of the National Archives. Inside the Justice Department, a statue entitled ‘The Spirit of Law’ has two tablets representing the Ten Commandments lying at its feet. In front of the Ronald Reagan Building stands another sculpture that includes a depiction of the Ten Commandments. So too, a 24-foot-tall sculpture, outside the Federal Courthouse, depicting, among other things, the Ten Commandments and a cross. Moses is also prominently featured in the Chamber of the United States House of Representatives. …

“Moses was a lawgiver as well as a religious leader, and the Ten Commandments have undeniable historical meaning.”

In 2018, the official seals of the United States, the president, the Supreme Court, the House of Representatives and all the executive departments, as well as the U.S. dollar, feature the eagle with 13 stars for the original 13 colonies, arranged in the shape of the Star of David, which is also the shape of the U.S. sheriff’s badge. ince 1949, the U.S.-Israeli crises have always been “V”-shaped (quick to deteriorate and quick to rebound), not “U”shaped (quick to deteriorate and slow to rebound), due to the healthy foundations and tissues of the bilateral relationship, transcending the Palestinian issue, the Arab-Israeli conflict, Israel’s bombing of Iraq’s nuclear reactor, disagreements about Iran and so on.

The extraordinary enhancement of the U.S.-Israeli relationship—irrespective of the White House and State Department pressuring Israel—derives from the unique 400-yearold foundation laid down by the Bible-inspired early Pilgrims and nurtured by the JudeoChristian-driven Founding Fathers and the American people, rather than by policymakers and molders of public opinion.

The unique foundations of the U.S.-Israeli saga were forged prior to the evolution of an organized Jewish community, the Holocaust, the establishment of Israel and the rise of AIPAC on the American scene. These foundations have nurtured a covenant between the American people, their state and federal representatives, on the one hand, and the Jewish state on the other hand. It accords Israel a unique standing: a foreign, but also a valuedriven domestic issue.

Ethics of the Fathers, a second-century compilation of Jewish ethical teachings, sayings and proverbs, observes: “Conditional love is tenuous; unconditional love is eternal.” Similarly, Israel is the only unconditional ally of the United States, wholeheartedly reciprocating the value-driven unconditional identification by the American people with the Jewish state.

Ambassador Yoram Ettinger is a consultant on U.S.-Israel relations and the Middle East. He served as Minister for Congressional Affairs at Israel’s Embassy in Washington, Israel’s Consul General to the Southwestern USA and director of Israel’s Government Press Office.

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Jewish births top those of Arabs, raising questions for 2-state plan

Hewlett-East Rockaway Jewish Centre Celebrates

In demographic terms, the current proportion of Jews to the non-Israeli Arab population in what the Palestinian Authority views as “occupied” is around 22 percent. Incidentally, that’s a mirror image of Israel’s Arab population approximately, which is around 20 percent.

If Israel within the Green Line armistice boundary can exist with that figure of a minority, without agreeing to any final-status result of negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, what all should agree upon is that no Jew need be expelled or his property dismantled. If Arabs can live in Israel, then Jews can live in a Palestine, if it is established.

Of course, if the demographics of the Arab population continue in a negative trend whereas the Jewish population steadily increases, then perhaps a two-state solution is really quite unnecessary.

Yisrael Medad is an American-born Israeli journalist and author.

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Over the recent years, in studies such as those by Yakov Faitelson and Yoram Ettinger, the Metzilah Center sought to prove that the published Palestinian Authority figures are unreliable. Arab birth rates are decreasing while the Jewish rate is increasing; so, too, are the numbers of Arabs emigrating and other issues.

However, there is a problem with numbers and counting. They can be fluid and at all final.

For example, back in 2009 we were informed that “long-term projection flowing from existing trends allows the Jewish majority to hold firm at around 75 percent of the population [while] the two contrasting views — that Israel is inevitably moving toward binationalism and that the current trends are not threatening the preservation of the Jewish majority — should be revisited and assessed with greater caution.”

And there could be surprises.

In a review of the situation of the Arabscalled-Palestinian people published this past week, Ola Awad, president of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, said that data indicated that the total number of Jews residing in what they consider as the West Bank was 636,452 by the end of 2016. There is a bit of confusion in that their breakdown is that 302,188 (47.5 percent) of them lived in a “Jerusalem Governorate,” the borders of which I am unfamiliar, with 222,325 in the neighborhoods of Jerusalem constructed after 1967.

That second figure is correct.

Subtracting it from the overall sum (which is low I would maintain), we arrive at 414,127 in the Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria.

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Commentary by Yisrael Medad On March 21, 2013, in front of a large and sympathetic audience of youth, President Barack Obama spoke in Jerusalem of his vision of peace. In more than 5,400 words, he delved into many issues. In one section, he zeroed in on three points, the first being: “Given the demographics west of the Jordan River, the only way for Israel to endure and thrive as a Jewish and democratic state is through the realization of an independent and viable Palestine. That is true.”

That translates as “there are too many Arabs.” If their large numbers are absorbed into the State of Israel, as popular wisdom has it, either their voting power will alter the Jewish character of the state or, if that outcome is prevented by denying Arabs citizenship rights, Israel will lose its democratic regime frame.

Hillary Clinton, at AIPAC’s 2010 conference, said the same thing: “There is, I think, a belief among many that the status quo can be sustained. But the dynamics of demography, ideology, and technology make this impossible. … We cannot ignore the long-term population trends that result from the Israeli occupation … the inexorable mathematics of democracy — of demography — are hastening the hour at which Israelis may have to choose between preserving their democracy and staying true to the dream of a Jewish homeland. Given this reality, a two-state solution is the only viable path for Israel to remain both a democracy and a Jewish state.”

This mantra of an impending demographic threat has been a constant of the conflict since 1967. But is it?

SHALOM ISRAEL

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Continued from page 1 turing popular musicians and talkers, can be accessed through the park entrance at Fifth Avenue and 72nd Street.

Scheduled performers include Shloime Dachs, Mordechai Shapiro, Abraham Fried, Tal Vaknin, Simply Tzfat, Chaim Kiss, Jerry Markovitz, and Izzy Kiefer.

Among anticipated speakers are U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon, Consul General to New York Dani Dayan, Fox and Friends host Pete Hegseth, ZOA President Morton Klein, and RZA President and former Lawrence Mayor Martin Oliner.

The concert celebrates “our eternal bond with the undivided capital of Israel, Yerushalayim, and the heroic families and communities of Yehuda, Shomron, the Jordan Valley and the Golan Heights, organizers said.

The parade, a New York tradition since 1965 when it began as an impromtu walk down Riverside Drive, will feature more than 30 floats with musical performers, 15 worldclass marching bands, numerous varied entertainers, and 40,000 marchers.

Featured performers include Israeli musician Ninet Tayeb and Israel Chef Eyal Shani, saxophonist Yarden Klayman, the Milk and Honeys, the National Yiddish Theatre/Folksbiene, DJ Omri Anghel, Six-13, and the house band Soulfarm.

Dina and Jonathan Leader will serve as grand marshals. Honorary grand marshals will include singer-entertainer Lipa Schmeltzer, Unorthodox Podcast host Liel Leibovitz, and actor and Birthright alum Jonathan Lipnicki.

The parade will be telecast and livestreamed starting at noon on FOX’s My9 or CelebrateIsraelNY.org.

For more about the parade visit Celebrate IsraelNY.org; for the concert, bit.ly/2xn0XfC. Both events will take place rain or shine.

THE JEWISH STAR June 1, 2018 • 18 Sivan

March on... Israel’s demographics are changing

9

An Israeli relates to her country, an ocean away

By Ofra Daniel, from San Francisco My Dear Land, It is your birthday.

At 70, you are not a young country anymore.

Some will consider me a stepdaughter because I left you, deciding to move an ocean away. I left behind me the battles, the traffic, the heat and the politics to become a citizen of the world.

Whenever I am asked where I am from, I hesitate a minute before I answer, then I carefully monitor the interlocutor’s response. Some have

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no idea where you are on the map. Some give me a look that says oh, that country again. Some share with me their observations and opinions of you. I listen with curiosity, thinking to myself, don’t they realize I am still a part of you?

First, I need to educate them about who you really are. Then I need to make sure they hear your side of the story, and to those with very a strong sense of justice, I tell them to mind their own business and attend to their own backyard.

You need to know that I defend you openly, although sometimes it isn’t an easy task.

Working my way up as an immigrant in the Bay Area, I founded an Israeli theater company, producing plays by Israeli playwrights. Your stepsons and stepdaughters here are thirsty to connect with you through stage performance and live theater. We keep your language, celebrate your culture and preserve the identity you have given us. When I am among them, I find myself pointing out your flaws, calling out your awful mistakes and worrying for your future. I also make sure they do not shut the door to others who claim that they love you. You see, loving you at times is not an easy task.

When I was a little girl, I believed that one day all the Jews of the world would move in with you because you are gigantic, sacred and the only home we have. “The Land” is what we call you.

As if the entire world is composed of water and you are the only piece of land there is. Those of us living in the Bay Area say we only came here for a few years, to taste the water, broaden our possibilities and then return. Gradually, in the dead of night, we moved our books and poems, our family albums and childhood memories. We built temporary communities that resemble you, pretending we never really left. We adjusted to a time zone in which we are kissing you goodnight while we are waking up. We never fully realized that we have actually moved out. Admitting that is also not easy.

Perhaps it is a mature process of separation and individuation that pulled us apart. Perhaps the distance and perspective has allowed us to see you better, support you and present you to the broader world community, stating proudly that we, too, are your children. Maybe your diverse human kaleidoscope, your endless conflicts, your multi-religious focal points and the never-ending arguments of who owned you first is what makes us see the world from multiple perspectives, oftentimes antithetical one to the other, yet rich in human experience. Discovering that loving you from afar is just as good and just as possible.

We all need our Zion, a place that we call

home, a place we long for, defend, belong to, move away from, criticize, come back to, care for, protect and claim as our birthright. Luckily, you will outlive us, age gracefully and be even more attractive, while we will grow old, and return to die and be buried on your Land.

Your daughter, Ofra Ofra Daniel is co-founder and artistic/executive director of the Jewish Circle Theater. A native of Israel, she is an accomplished playwright and performed with the Beit Lessin Theatre Company in Tel Aviv before moving to the Bay Area. She wrote this piece for J. The Jewish News of Northern California.

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11 THE JEWISH STAR June 1, 2018 • 18 Sivan

AMEER BENNO Candidate for Congress th New York’s 4 District

Proudly Celebrates and Honors

THE STATE OF ISRAEL On the Occasion of its 70th Anniversary!

AM YISRAEL CHAI! AM YISRAEL CHAI!

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70 who counted…

Continued from page 6 Bernstein maintained his close relationship with Israel throughout his life. Visiting almost every year, he helped develop the Israel Philharmonic into one of the world’s premiere orchestras.

Eddie Jacobson (1891-1965) 8 of 70

Eddie Jacobson’s life-long friend Harry Truman was hardly known for fulsome praise. So when Truman described him “as fine a man as ever walked,” it was a tribute not to be taken lightly. Humble and unaffected, Jacobson did not seek out a high place in the world. However, when given the chance to act nobly, he did.

The son of a milkman, Jacobson grew up in Leavenworth, Kan., and Kansas City, Mo. He first met Truman at the age of 14, but the two didn’t become friends until 12 years later, when they underwent basic training together at Fort Sill in Oklahoma. Their success in running an army canteen inspired them to open the Truman-Jacobson Haberdashery in Kansas City after the war.

In the post-war slump, the store went bankrupt, leaving both men with sizable debts. Determined to repay their creditors, they spent decades doing so. During this time, Truman rose as a political leader, and Jacobson took on a career as a traveling salesman. Despite their failed venture, they remained the closest of friends throughout their lives.

Jacobson had free access to Truman even after he became president. During his visits, the two would discuss the situation in Europe and what could be done to rescue European Jewry.

On many occasions, Jacobson brought along Zionist leaders like Rabbi Arthur Lelyveld and attorney A.J. Granoff to meet Truman, underwriting their trips to Washington.

By March 1948, Truman was weary of the solicitations from Jewish leaders regarding Israel.

Unsure of how to respond to requests for recognition of the Jewish state, he even refused to meet with Chaim Weizmann regarding the issue.

That was when the future UJA leader Dewey Stone and then B’nai B’rith president Frank GoldSILHOUETTE WINDOW SHADINGS AND SILHOUETTE® WINDOW SHADINGS AND LUMINETTE PRIVACY SHEERS man called Jacobson from a Massachusetts pay® SILHOUETTE WINDOW SHADINGS AND PRIVACY SHEERS LUMINETTE LUMINETTE PRIVACY SHEERS phone. Stone had spent the day with a frustrated Weizmann. Goldman mentioned to Stone that he had just given a B’nai B’rith award in Kansas City Save now on Hunter Douglas window fashions. to Jacobson for his various good deeds. TogethSave nowwindow on Hunter Douglas window Light-diffusing fashions from Hunter Douglas let youfashions. design with soft light. er, they beseeched Jacobson to meet Weizmann.

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In the 1930s, Einstein took on an honorary post as chairman of the United Jewish Appeal.

This involved more than lending his name. Einstein gave radio addresses about the dangers Jews faced in Europe, and he denounced the limitations against Jewish emigration into Palestine.

Einstein’s decision to turn down Israel’s presidency was certainly not motivated by disregard or indifference, but rather by respect.

As he put it, “I am deeply moved by the offer from our State of Israel, and at once saddened and ashamed that I cannot accept it. … I lack both the natural aptitude and the experience to deal properly with people and to exercise official functions. … I am the more distressed over these circumstances because my relationship to the Jewish people has become my strongest human bond, ever since I became fully aware of our precarious situation among the nations of the world.”

In the last days of his life, Einstein was working doggedly on a speech in support of Israel. Although he died before he was scheduled to deliver it, the address survives. In it, he said Israel’s creation was “an event which actively engages the conscience of this generation. It is, therefore, a bitter paradox to find that a state which was destined to be a shelter for a martyred people is itself threatened by grave dangers to its own security. The universal conscience cannot be indifferent to such peril.”

Einstein bequeathed his personal archives and all literary rights to his works to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Howard (1909-2014) and Lottie (1916-2015) Marcus 10 of 70

Dr. Howard and Lottie Marcus, originally of Great Neck, later of San Diego, were blessed with very long lives. Howard died at the age of 104 in 2014, and Lottie died in 2015 at the age of 99. Their deaths did not preclude them from causing quite a stir a few months later.

In June 2016, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev announced shocking news. The Marcus estate had gifted a sum of $400 million to the university. This incredible sum more than doubled the university’s endowment overnight and was the largest charitable gift ever bestowed upon an Israeli institution, academic or otherwise.

Both Howard and Lottie lost almost their entire family in the horrors of the Shoah and were intent that their gift go towards helping educate young Jews.

They met after the war in New York, Lottie working as a secretary on Wall Street and Howard as a dentist. The Marcuses made their fortune through none other than Warren Buffet. Befriending him in the early 1960s, the Marcuses joined his investment partnership, amassing an enormous fortune in the process.

Despite their financial success, they lived modestly in a middle-class neighborhood in Great Neck and retired to a one-bedroom apartment in San Diego. Described as warm and friendly, they barely touched their fortune.

The Marcuses first became involved with Ben-Gurion University in the late 1990s. They were particularly enthralled by the university’s work in desalination and advanced irrigation of desert environments. They believed that solving the region’s problem of water scarcity would be an important step toward a lasting peace. A large portion of Howard and Lottie’s gift to the university is dedicated to the Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research at the university, which studies sustainable water usage and desalination, among other important research areas.

Amazingly, Howard and Lottie’s donation to Ben-Gurion University represented almost the entirety of their estate. Consistent with the manner in which they lived their lives, they viewed what they had earned as something to modestly hold onto, until the time was right to give back to the Jewish homeland and its people.

Pick up next week’s edition of The Jewish Star for more of the 70 who mattered.

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New report: Israel’s rabbinate rejects MO rabbis JERUSALEM (JTA) — An internal correspondence document written by a senior member of Israel’s rabbinical courts rejects the authority of all rabbis who receive their ordination from a yeshiva established by Rabbi Avi Weiss in 1999 in Riverdale.

The document, obtained by Itim, a nonprofit that guides Israelis through the country’s religious bureaucracy, casts doubt on the accuracy of the haredi-dominated chief rabbinate’s insistence that it does not have a blacklist of Modern Orthodox rabbis in the United States.

The document, written in March by Rabbi Asher Ehrentreu, a senior member of the administration of the rabbinical courts, states that Modern Orthodox rabbis who were ordained by Rabbi Weiss’ Yeshivat Chovevei Torah “are not recognized by the rabbinate of Israel.” The edict affects some 124 rabbis ordained by the yeshiva.

The document was written in connection with Rabbi Ehrentreu’s refusal to recognize the Jewish status of a woman who presented the rabbinate with a letter attesting to her Jewishness written by a rabbi from Chovevei Torah, according to Itim. The letter referred her to “comprehensive clarification” of her status by the Israeli rabbinate. The woman’s Jewish identity was recognized only after a rabbinical court in the United States issued a certificate attesting to her status, according to Itim.

Letters attesting to the Jewishness of other people written by Weiss, known as a liberal rabbi, have been rejected in the past, but this letter is the first that appears to undermine the authority of all rabbis ordained by his yeshiva.

Immigrants to Israel who marry though the chief rabbinate must prove that they are Jewish by presenting a letter from a communal rabbi in their former place of residence.

The document specifically refused to recognize the certification of a woman’s Jewish status

Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in Riverdale, was established by Rabbi Avi Weiss in 1999.

issued by Rabbi Akiva Hertzfeld, who served as rabbi of the Sha’arei Tefila congregation in Portland, Maine and who has since made aliyah. In 2013 he was named as one of the Jewish Daily Forward’s “36 Most Inspiring Rabbis.”

“The scandalous letter found in the rabbinical court file shows that the chief rabbinate and the rabbinic courts rejected Rabbi Akiva Herzfeld’s testimony about the Jewishness of his community because of his affiliation with ‘modern Orthodoxy’,” Assaf Benmelech, Rabbi Herzfeld’s attorney, said in a statement.

“This is a position that reflects ignorance and abandonment. It also refutes the attempts of the Chief Rabbinate to ignore the fact that it is a coincidence that rabbis affiliated with the moder-

ate Orthodox circles in the United States are rejected by it over and over again. This is the result of abandoning the religious system in Israel to haredi hands: arbitrary decisions, and a severe blow to the delicate fabric of relations with Diaspora Jewry.”

Benmeleh is the director of Ne’emanei Torah Va’Avodah, a religious-Zionist organization that seeks to promote “open and tolerant discourse” within Orthodoxy.

Rabbi Seth Farber, founder of Itim, said in a statement: “The chief rabbinate has repeatedly claimed that there are no blacklists. However, the testimony of an Orthodox rabbi was rejected only because he belonged to an institution that the rabbinate does not like. The rabbis’ behavior

in this case is, first and foremost, dishonest. They make all kinds of statements in order to eliminate harsh criticism, but, ultimately, under the sway of the more extremist elements among them, they do not rule in line with their statements.”

In 2013, the rabbinate rejected a proof-ofJudaism letter from Weiss, citing “uncertainty as to his commitment to Jewish law,” then reversed course and accepted it following complaints from American Jewish leaders. Last year, the rabbinate rejected a similar letter from Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, Kehilath Jeshurun’s former rabbi and the rabbi who oversaw the conversion of Ivanka Trump. It also rejected conversions overseen by Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwartz, chief presiding judge of the National Beth Din of the Rabbinical Council of America, the main modern Orthodox rabbinical court in the United States.

But following Rabbi Weiss’ initial rejection in 2013, former rabbinate spokesman Ziv Maor told JTA that examining the credentials of Orthodox rabbis is crucial to the integrity of the evaluation process.

“The testimony needs to be according to Jewish law and the witness needs to have the fear of heaven,” Maor told JTA at the time. Regarding Rabbi Weiss, he added, “We’re talking about someone on the fringes of Orthodoxy.”

In July 2017, Itim obtained a list of rabbis from 24 countries, including the United States and Canada, who the chief rabbinate does not trust to confirm the Jewish identities of immigrants More than two years ago, the chief rabbinate promised to publish a full list of criteria for recognizing rabbis from overseas. In February, the chief rabbinate’s director-general, Moshe Dagan, asserted that the list was in its “final stages.”

The Committee to Examine the Chief Rabbinate’s Knowledge of Rabbis from Abroad, a panel of the Knesset Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Committee, met on Tuesday.

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LI mom, last parent of a Kent State victim, 96

By Steve North, JTA For nearly half a century, Elaine Holstein was periodically confronted with one of the most haunting images in modern American history: the bone-chilling picture of Kent State University student Jeffrey Miller lying on the pavement seconds after being fatally shot in the mouth by an Ohio National Guardsman during an anti-war protest.

Photographer John Filo later said, “The volume of blood that was flowing from his body was as if someone tipped over a bucket.” And, of course, there was the teenage girl kneeling over Jeff, screaming in horror, her arms raised in anguish.

Most baby boomers remember that photo as a symbol of May 4, 1970, the day four unarmed college students were killed on their own campus. For Elaine Holstein, however, the photograph depicted the cruel death of her beloved 20-year-old son.

Holstein died Saturday at age 96; she was the last surviving parent of the four Kent State victims. (Three of the four students were Jewish; nine other students also were wounded in the gunfire.) I’d known her since May 1980, when as news director of the Long Island radio station WLIR I invited her to my studio to speak about Jeff on the 10th anniversary of what became known as the Kent State Massacre.

I was immediately impressed with this tiny, typical Jewish mother. She had worked as a high school secretary in Plainview, before returning to college, earning her master’s degree, and becoming a psychiatric social worker when she was nearly 60.

As we began the interview, Holstein kvelled, proudly telling me about her boy.

“He was a cute kid; dark curly hair, very bright and precocious,” she said. “He did very well in school and skipped first grade, which became a problem because he was short and always felt like a baby.

John Filo’s Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of 14-year-old Mary Ann Vecchio kneeling over the body of Jeffrey Miller minutes after he was fatally shot by the Ohio National Guard at Kent State University on May 4, 1970. Three of the four students killed that day were Jewish. John Paul Filo/Valley News-Dispatch/Wikimedia Commons

“When he was little, he wasn’t that easy to get along with because I think he was a protester from the very beginning. Jeff had a kind of strong will. But his saving grace was he had a great sense of humor and a great intelligence, so he was marvelous company and I always enjoyed him. We had a very good, close relationship.”

As a teenager, Holstein recalled, Jeff was typical of the times.

“He liked the Mets, music, math and motorcycles. He had posters up all over his room: Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane. ... I don’t think that’s the group’s name anymore, right? I got a good education from him. He was very insistent that I share in what he loved so much,” she said.

In early 1970, on a visit to New York City, she and Jeff strolled around Greenwich Village, and

he bought a small leather ring with a peace insignia. He had been an anti-Vietnam War activist since the age of 16, when he wrote a poem titled “Where Does It End?” It included the lines “A teenager from a small Ohio farm clutches his side in pain, and, as he feels his life ebbing away, he too, asks why, why is he dying here, thousands of miles from home?”

At the time, Jeff had never been to Ohio and had no idea his own life would end in the state.

In 1970, Jeff transferred to Kent State from Michigan State University.

That May, Holstein received a phone call from her mother.

“She heard on the radio there were protests at Kent State, and she was worried about Jeff. So I called Jeff and told him Nana was upset,” Holstein said. “He said it’s nothing to worry about.

We talked about him getting a summer job in which he’d make those posters that said ‘War is unhealthy for children and other living things.’

“Two days later, Jeff called me in my office.

He was concerned I might hear about more demonstrations and get nervous about it, and he wanted to reassure me. He mentioned Nixon’s speech calling the anti-war students ‘bums,’ and the impression I got wasn’t so much of anger but of wry amusement. There was going to be a rally at noon, and he said ‘I think I’ll go over there; is that OK with you?’ I thought, what power do I have to tell him no, from Long Island?”

Her voice breaking, Holstein said “And that was the last …”

Miller took part in the May 4 protest against the expansion of the Vietnam War into Cambodia and against the presence of the Ohio National Guard on the Kent State campus. The shooting of those unarmed protesters led to massive demonstrations across the country. A federal commission later determined that the shootings were unjustified, although no criminal convictions See Kent State on page 28

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17 THE JEWISH STAR June 1, 2018 • 18 Sivan

18 June 1, 2018 • 18 Sivan THE JEWISH STAR

The JEWISH STAR

Wine & Dine

Light up the grill, barbecue and smoker!

Kosher Kitchen

JoNi SChoCKett Jewish Star columnist

I

t is grilling, barbecuing, and smoking time.

Nothing says summer like a grilled burger or some smoked chicken or barbecued brisket.

Grilling is the oldest form of cooking. Once fire was controlled, people learned that cooked meat was far more palatable than raw meat and a lot less chewy! The early settlers brought a more refined method of grilling to the New World, building communal fire pits where people came together to grill the catch of the day — everything from deer to rabbits, wild turkeys, and the seafood that lived right off the coast.

The immigration waves in the early 19th century marked the end of this way of cooking. Grilling in big cities near closely built tenements was not safe. Besides, technology had given cooks indoor stoves, so cooking outside meant that you could not afford this modern convenience. Grilling was relegated to westward expansion and became the cooking mode of necessity only.

So how did we go from communal fire pits to extraordinary backyard barbecues, gas grills and more?

That idea belongs to a man named George Stephan. In the 1950s, he was a metal worker in Chicago and was working for a company called “Weber,” which made buoys. Stephens soon obtained a controlling share of the company and, in 1952, created his first home grill. He took one of those buoys, cut it in half, and added three legs and some wood. The Weber Kettle was born!

This creation, coupled with the exodus from cities to newly built suburbs, created the explosion of private home grilling. The Kettle and the charcoal were inexpensive, so grilling became the iconic symbol of summertime in the suburbs.

For your edification, grilling and barbecuing are too different things. Grilling is the relatively quick cooking of foods over high, direct heat.

Barbecuing is the slow cooking of larger cuts of meat over more indirect heat.

Smoking is a fairly new method of slow-cooking meat in a controlled, smoky environment at relatively low heat. The result is delicious. Many companies now make fairly inexpensive home smokers.

Now you can fill your backyard with a smoker, a grill and a barbecue! Take your pick and enjoy the summer!

Drunken (Not Really) Smoked Salmon (Pareve) My friend, Jim Withall, makes this delicious, moist, and flavorful salmon. There is absolutely no taste of vodka in this and the results are superb!

3 pounds salmon, divided in half, with skin 1 cup vodka 1/2 cup kosher salt 1 cup sugar, mix of dark brown and white or all white

1 Tbsp. freshly cracked black pepper OPTIONAL: Pure Maple syrup alone or mixed with a pinch of cayenne pepper Place the two pieces of salmon into two zipper bags. Divide the vodka between the two bags and squeeze as much air out of the bags as possible. Zip them shut and gently massage the vodka into the fish for several seconds. Place in a bowl and refrigerate for an hour. While the fish is in the refrigerator, mix the sugars, salt and pepper in a small bowl.

Remove the fish from the refrigerator and discard the vodka. Rinse the bags and shake dry.

Rinse the fish and pat dry. Place the fish back in the bags and place half the rub mixture on the top of each piece. Remove the air from the bags and close. Rub the brine mixture into the fish, place in the bowl and refrigerate for 2 to 4 hours. Remove the fish, rinse and pat dry. While the fish is brining,

1-1/2 cups sliced mushrooms 2 to 3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil 1-1/2 pounds ground beef 1 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. black pepper 1/2 cup pareve, unflavored, breadcrumbs 3 cloves garlic, finely minced 1 extra-large egg Canola oil 6 pareve focaccia rolls.

Place the wine and minced shallots in a medium, heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the wine is reduced to about 3/4 cup. Remove from heat and add one tablespoon margarine and the sugar. Stir till melted. Set aside.

Mix the rest of the margarine with the rosemary or parsley and set aside.

Place the meat in a large bowl and add the

preheat the smoker to 175 degrees.

Place the fish in a smoker-safe dish and place in the smoker. If you like, you can baste every 15 minutes with the maple syrup.

Smoke the fish for 45-60 minutes. Increase the temperature to 225-250 and smoke for an addition 45-65 minutes until the internal temperature of the fish reaches 145-150 degrees at the thickest part.

Remove from the smoker and serve hot or at room temperature. Serves 6 to 8.

Cabernet Sauvignon Burgers with Shallots and Mushrooms (Meat) This is a fantastic burger that will delight adults.

1 bottle Cabernet Sauvignon wine 2/3 cup shallots, minced 9 Tbsp. unsalted Pareve margarine, softened 2 tsp. brown sugar 1 Tbsp. minced fresh rosemary or parsley, if you do not care for rosemary

egg, garlic, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs and 1/4 cup of the shallot wine mixture. Form into 6 patties, brush lightly with vegetable oil, and set aside. Heat the olive oil in a skillet and add the mushrooms.

Sauté until they turn golden. Add 1 to 2 Tbsp. of the shallot sauce to the mushrooms and heat through. Set aside.

Heat the grill to medium high heat. Grill burgers, basting them with the remaining wine/shallot mixture. Brush the cut halves of rolls or focaccia bread with the margarine/ rosemary mixture and grill until golden. Serve burgers with the sautéed mushrooms, sliced tomatoes and baby field greens.

Serves 6.

Grilled Veggie Skewers with *Romesco Sauce (Pareve) *Romesco sauce is a delicious pepper/tomato/ toasted almond sauce that has multi levels of flavor and is delicious with meat or veggies.

Romesco Sauce: 4 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil 2 to 3 slices hearty country white bread like Focaccia 2 to 4 cloves garlic, finely minced 1/2 cup toasted, blanched, chopped almonds (pre-toasted or toast at 375, 4 to 7 minutes) 4 to 5 Roma tomatoes 1 large red pepper, roasted, seeded and chopped 1 tsp. chili powder or 3/4 tsp. red pepper flakes for more 2 Tbsp. fresh parsley 2 to 3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar 1 tsp. paprika or smoked paprika Salt and pepper, to taste 1/4 to 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with foil.

Preheat the broiler to high. Brush the bread on one side with olive oil and toast until golden. Let cool.

Place the pepper and tomatoes on the rimmed baking sheet. Broil until the skin is charred, about 3 to 5 minutes. The pepper may take longer. Carefully turn the tomatoes to char the other side, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and place the tomatoes in a bowl to cool. Place the pepper back in the oven until charred and turn to char the other side. Remove the pepper to a small paper bag and close the bag. Let cool.

While the veggies are cooling, place the garlic in a food processor. Pulse to mince. When the pieces stick to the side, scrape down and add the toasted almonds. Pulse until finely chopped. Add the bread and the chili powder of pepper flakes and pulse until the almonds form a thick paste.

Scrape down the sides.

Gently rub the charred skin from the tomatoes and remove the stem end core. Do the same with the pepper and remove the white veins and seeds.

Add to the processor and process until smooth.

Add the Parsley, vinegar, paprika, salt and pepper and pulse to blend.

While the mixer is running, add the olive oil to emulsify the mixture. Add as little or as much as needed to attain the desired consistency. Scrape into a bowl and set aside so flavors can blend.

Makes about 2 to 3 cups.

Veggie Skewers (Pareve) You can make this with any veggies you like.

2 to 3 Japanese eggplant, (thin, long eggplants) 2 to 3 small zucchini 12 cherry or grape tomatoes 12 button mushrooms 6 to 12 small red onions or pearl onions Extra-virgin olive oil Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste Cut the eggplant into 1nch-long pieces. Do the same with the zucchini. Place in a large bowl with the rest of the veggies. Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of olive oil and toss to coat evenly.

Place the vegetables on 4 to 6 skewers, alternating vegetables or placing all of one kind on the same skewer for more even cooking. Season with salt and pepper and grill over medium heat until the veggies are softened and golden. Slide off the skewer onto s a serving platter and serve with a bowl of the Romesco sauce. Serves 4 to 6.

Who’s in the Kitchen

JuDY Joszef

Jewish Star columnist

I

’ll admit, I procrastinate at times, but my husband Jerry makes me look like an amateur.

Each Sunday, I try to get him to the gym at a reasonable hour, so he’ll have time to enjoy a long workout. It never works out though, and he gets there close to 4 pm and the gym closes at 6.

Last Sunday was no different. He managed to dilly-dally around the house and he got there late. Before he left I asked him to pick up a package of pita at Gourmet Glatt, on the way home. I explained exactly where he’d find it, if they had it in stock — directly across from the dairy department in the last aisle. He left the gym at 6 pm. At 6:45 I called and asked if he was harvesting the wheat needed to bake the pitas. He explained that he couldn’t find it in the last aisle, so he walked through all the aisles twice trying to find it. I explained to him the concept of not finding it where it belongs. “It’s called, they are out of the item! Come home!”

Jerry’s childhood friends have often joked about Jerry’s propensity to procrastinate, no matter what. Bob Gittleman, one of Jerry’s closest friends, calls Jerry “The Piddler.” Whenever Jerry plans to do anything, especially things which he loves to do, I basically beg him not to “dilly,” so he doesn’t miss the things he really wants to do. But he sabotages himself.

Jerry and I love the Bud Lite “Dilly Dilly” commercial, and Jerry noticed that the meaning of the term “Dilly” might in some way depict him in a positive way. “Hmmmm,” Jerry thought, “might Judy be complimenting me even though she doesn’t express ‘Dilly’ with the same affection and respect as

expressed in the commercial.” He then does what Jerry does best. He determines that he must investigate this important issue (the complex tax issues awaiting his attention as a tax attorney would have to wait until this puttering mystery was solved). o his surprise the term “dilly” is defined in the dictionary as “one who is remarkable or outstanding.” He couldn’t believe that I was being so positive, and perhaps he had erroneously misjudged me, but he was puzzled why I never appeared pleased when I complimented him on being remarkable or outstanding. “I guess one learns something new every day,” Jerry thought.

Jerry usually begins his workday by warming up and puttering around the office, telling stories and jokes to each victim he encounters.

Eventually he focuses, and addresses those complex tax issues, employing his experience to solve his clients’ and colleagues’ needs. Often, when he happens to know the solution (because he has seen it before) or, once he figures out a solution, Jerry says something like, “This reminds me of a story,” and he begins to tell some funny ridiculous story to his desperate colleagues.

Rick, an excellent, very serious and dedicated tax partner and his oldest, closet friend and colleague in the office, used to explode at Jerry for joking around at such a serious moment. Jerry didn’t miss a beat and would finish his story and then provide the solution which Rick was desperately seeking. Over the years, Rick learned to relax when Jerry began to tell a ridiculous story as this signaled that “The Piddler” was going to morph into the cavalry and save the day. And when he does, he deserves to hear “Dilly Dilly Jerry,” from Rick and his other colleagues.

But don’t get excited Jerry, dally is a verb that means to waste time or fool around. But of course it does.… So when I say don’t dilly dally, don’t pat yourself on the back, sweetheart. Dilly dilly appropriately means that Jerry is a remarkable,

T

talented, procrastenator, a veritable pro’s pro.

Now these recipes. Dilly dilly, enjoy!

Dilly Rolls Recipe

By Mary Bickel at TasteOfHome.com Ingredients 2 cups 4-percent cottage cheese 2 Tbsp. butter 2 packages (1/4 ounce each) active dry yeast 1/2 cup warm water (110° to 115°) 2 large eggs 1/4 cup sugar 2 Tbsp. dried minced onion 1 to 2 Tbsp. dill weed 1 Tbsp. salt 1/2 tsp. baking soda 4-1/2 to 5 cups all-purpose flour Directions In a large saucepan over medium heat, cook cottage cheese and butter until butter is melted.

Cool to 110° to 115°. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add eggs, sugar, onion, dill, salt,

baking soda and cottage cheese mixture. Add 3 cups of flour; beat until smooth. Add enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.

Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch dough down. Form into 24 balls; place in a 13x9 inch baking pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.

Dilly Dilly Bread Dip

By Nor M at JustAPinch.com 2 cup sour cream 2 cup mayonaise 2 Tbsp. dried onion 5 to 8 Tbsp. dill weed (add dill a little at a time. taste in between adding the dill. I like a lot of dill weed in my dip; make it your own) 1 tsp. Lawry’s seasoning salt 2 Tbsp. dried parsley

The 5 best places to eat hummus in Israel

By Jessica Halfin, The Nosher via JTA Hummus is a national obsession in Israel.

And while your brain might automatically be thinking about those containers you buy at the supermarket, hummus in Israel is a slightly different, more elevated experience. Literally thousands of hummus restaurants exist throughout Israel and everyone has their local favorite.

But we wanted to boil it down to the absolute best, must-visit five favorite hummusias (that is, places that only serve hummus) in all of Israel.

These restaurants have gained droves of loyal fans for making the ethereal and creamy wonder-dip just a little bit better than the next place.

Prepare to drool. Then get your passport ready.

Hummus Ben sira, Jerusalem Grab a seat at this kosher hummus bar in the heart of downtown Jerusalem and you’ll experience the adrenaline pumping live action behind one of Israel’s favorite hearty treats. Functioning like a mezze bar, here you can get all sorts of

Israeli-style salads and freshly fried falafel balls to round out your hummus lunch. Once you snag a seat, a beer on tap or a glass of fresh lemonade will help you sop up the chickpea creaminess with warm pita bread all afternoon. Their meattopped hummus is not to be missed.

Address: Ben Sira St 3, Jerusalem Hummus shlomo and Doron, Jaffa This hummus restaurant has been a Jaffa staple since 1937. These days, you’re more likely to enjoy a bowl of creamy hummus with a modern twist, which for Israelis means switching up the toppings. The restaurant serves their classic hummus with ingredients like char-grilled, pickled onions and kalamata olives. It’s a unique take that proves homey dishes are the new gourmet and that a fantastic meal can be meat-free.

Address: Yishkon 29, Jaffa-Tel Aviv Hummus Bardicef, Haifa One of the things that makes Hummus Bardicef so unique, aside from the high quality

The consistency of their classic hummus is much thinner than the usual dip, but ever-delicious.

And their star dish is the masbacha, a rustic hummus-like stew of tahini and roughly mashed chick peas. Baklava and strong Turkish coffee on the house won’t leave you wondering why locals have flocked here in secret since the 1960s.

Address: 46 Ha-Tkuma st., Jaffa Hummus said, old City Akko Hummus Said in the ancient Mediteranean port city of Akko has been the top hummus spot in the city for Israelis since its inception in 1973.

Some even say it’s the best hummus in Israel, due to its light, airy and impossibly smooth texture. Located in the heart of the old market, this humble yet classic spot is a must-hit before you explore the spices, olives, and treat stands that surround the restaurant.

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hummus and attention to details, is the Hasidic theme of this restaurant, which is pretty far, culturally, from the origins of hummus. With Hasidic owners, their heritage is found in the name, logo, and decor of this restaurant. The hummus is served as a warm stew, effectively upping the ante and leaving you full all day long. One of my favorite dishes is the sabich hummus bowl: grilled eggplant, tahini, cubed potatoes, preserved lemon puree, and parsley pesto is served over an indulgent bowl of their signature super creamy hummus.

Address: 1 Wedgewood Boulevard , Haifa Dani foul, Jaffa Another Jaffa hummus destination with a long history is Hummus Dani Foul. A little off the beaten path and much less hyped (also much less expensive), this restaurant is just as authentic as the city’s most famous hummusia, Abu Hassan.

THE JEWISH STAR June 1, 2018 • 18 Sivan

When it comes to procrastination, I’m not Jerry

19

June 1, 2018 • 18 Sivan THE JEWISH STAR

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JEWISH STAR

School News Send news and hi-res photos to Schools@TheJewishStar.com Deadline Mondays at Noon

At Shulamith, a very good cut Eight special young ladies fromthe Shulamith School for Girls entered Quorum Salon to take part in a wonderful mitzvah.

They each cut off 10 or more inches of their lovely locks to donate to Zichron Menachem, an organization in Israel that provides support for children with cancer. Their hair will be used to make wigs for children who have lost theirs to cancer treatments.

For the third year in a row, Anthony, Davy, and the stylists at the Central Avenue salon provided this service for free. Each of Shulamith’s intrepid young ladies was made to feel beautiful by the restyling of their now shorter hair, and the positive impact their donations will make on children undergoing treatment.

The students were delighted when their principal, Rookie Billet, arrived at the salon to donate her own hair! Mrs. Billet said, “I was inspired by the girls who participated last year and decided then to grow my hair so that I could participate this year.”

The girls were accompanied on the outing by Rachel Steiner, director of student activities and coordinator of the event, and by their moms. The school was proud and inspired by these selfless young ladies, who gave of themselves to help others!

HAFTR High’s val and sal Erica Hilsenrath is valedictorian of HAFTR High School’s class of 2018.

Not only does she have the highest General Studies and Judaic Studies averages, but this incredible young lady is a true leader in every sense of the word, exceptionally active in a host of school and community activities.

Her loves include the math and science fields and she’s worked with HAFTR’s Science Institute and Math research program.

Erica is currently president of the Deah chapter of the National Honor Society. She also devotes time in a multitude of community service pursuits. From Torah Bowl to Tomchei Shabbos, to helping with youth groups to fundraising endeavors, she is there actively leading others to success after success.

Next year Erica will be at Midreshet Moriah in Israel and the following year she plans to attend the S. Daniel Abraham Honors Program at Stern College for Women.

SKA trumpets its honors

Valedictorian Ayelet Aharona

Israeli soldiers visit HANC ES HANC’s Samuel and Elizabeth Bass Golding Elementary School, in an ongoing program to bring Israel alive and closer to the hearts of its students, welcomed six representatives from Panim el Panim who shared their experiences in the Israeli army.

As each soldier introduced himself and shared his personal story, the children were surprised to discover that most of them were born in America and were raised and educated here. When they went to Israel for their gap year of learning in a yeshiva, they developed a deep bond with the land and people of Israel and felt it was their responsibility to join the army and defend our homeland.

A soldier named Tal, raised in Brooklyn, described what it was like to be a lone soldier in the Israeli army.

With no family in Israel, the army took care of him and provided for his needs.

Noam, who grew up in Teaneck said that during his experience in an Israeli yeshiva, he felt it was important to serve and do his part.

Amichai, a native Israeli, described what life was like in the army. “It is not easy,” he said. “You don’t sleep well and you don’t eat well. However, we understand why we need to do this and we realize the

importance of protecting Israel.”

What is unique about Israel came to light in a story that one of the soldiers shared. It was a cold day, moments before Shabbat, and this tired soldier was waiting at a bus stop. Suddenly, a van pulled up and a family with many children got out of the van. While the children handed out candies and treats to the soldiers, their mother opened her trunk, took out a soup ladle, and began handing bowls of hot soup to the soldiers that were waiting there. They could not believe their eyes! At a time when most families are busy getting ready for Shabbat in their own homes, this family decided that they needed to show their appreciation to the soldiers in a special way that would let them know that they are loved by Am Yisrael.

Questions that were posed to the soldiers included: what kind of training does a soldier get, what types of jobs do soldiers do and does each soldier get to choose what his/her job will be. From the responses, the children got a clearer sense of the life of a soldier in the Israeli Army.

Despite the hardships that soldiers face, they shared a firm belief in the importance of doing their part to ensure the future of Israel and Am Yisrael.

Daniel Friedman is HAFTR’s salutatorian.

Last year the school honored him as Student of the Year at induction to the Deah chapter of the National Honor Society, at which he spoke of individual potential and how the fear of failure limits people. He urged classmates to take risks and meet challenges.

Daniel’s thrived in both the Bronfman Fellowship and in Tikvah Scholars program, is involved as a chairperson in Model Congress, is captain of Torah Bowl, and is a vibrant member of the Math Team and the Science and Engineering program. He even successfully engaged in the highly competitive Jerusalem contest and is an AP Scholar. Daniel also spends many hours volunteering with Tomchei Shabbos, I-Shine and programs helping children with learning differences. Finally, he thrived in an independent study program at Yeshiva University.

Next year Daniel will be at Yeshivat Har Etzion (Gush) in Israel and the following year he plans to attend Princeton University.

Sallutatorian Shoshana Rockoff

Valedictorian: Ayelet Aharon Ranked first in her class, Ayelet is an extraordinary amalgam of exceptional qualities and talents. In addition to her positions as editor-in-chief of Skappenings and Parsha Press, captain of the Torah Bowl Team, and head of Production choir, Ayelet is a SPARKS committee head and the recipient of both Tanach and Keter Torah Awards.

An AP Scholar, National Merit Scholarship Commendee and Science Olympiad Team Captain and Gold medalist, Ayelet is also a teachernominated Long Island American Chemistry Awardee for Outstanding Scholastic Achievement in High School Chemistry, and a member of the Re’ut National Honor Society. Serving as an SKA Ambassador representing the school at recruitment and open house events, Ayelet is also on the Model Congress and Math Teams.

Outside of the classroom, Ayelet volunteers at Kulanu, where she works for special needs children and received the UJA Robert A. Belfer Family Fellowship Award for her leadership and community service. Ayelet will be attending Michlalah next year and then continuing her studies at Stern College for Women Honors Program.

Salutatorian: Shoshana Rockoff An exemplary student, Shoshana’s passion, motivation and intelligence are a rare combination. Her talent for writing, singing and public speaking are matched by her outstanding abilities in the classroom. Editor-in-chief of Skappenings, Parsha Press, Holocaust Journal, and captain of the Debate Team, Shoshana’s senior schedule consisted of three APs and four honors classes, the most allowed in the school. In addition to representing students as Head Ambassador and being appointed as head of SKA’s tefillah committee, Shoshana displays her love for Israel though

Keter Shem Tov, Aliza Rothman

her involvement with NORPAC and she was selected to represent SKA to meet with Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer. An all around excellent student, Shoshana genuinely loves to learn and was a member of the Reut National Honors Society, SKA Math Team, Model Congress, and was the recipient of SKA’s Tanach Award for Excellence in Judaic Studies. She was also active in many of the school’s organizations including TTYL, MACs and SPARKS. When not serving as SKA choir head in production, dedicating her time to Friendship Circle or tutoring chemistry, Shoshana can be found playing on the SKA soccer, volleyball and softball teams. Most importantly, Shoshana is someone who embodies exemplary middot as she was chosen by her peers to receive the Middot Award for Outstanding Character. Shoshana will be attending MMY next year and then continuing her studies at Stern College Honors Program.

Keter Shem Tov: Aliza Rothman Aliza Rothman has been voted the Keter Shem Tov awardee by her peers in the Class of 2018. Head of Production, sports editor of the yearbook, and Color War general, Aliza has a contagious enthusiasm in the classroom and throughout the school, receiving middos and Keter Torah awards. In Tenth Grade Aliza’s family moved to Canada and she was greatly missed by her classmates; she returned for junior year and jumped right back into the swing of things, never missing a beat. A bright and motivated student, Aliza also volunteers at Kulanu, I-Shine and JEP and is involved in SKA’s Kiruv Club. This year, she brought Operation SOS (Support Our Soldiers) to our school, an initiative to try and support American troops while they are away. Aliza will be attending Michlalah next year and then continuing her studies at Touro College for Women.

21

Schwartz; Associate Principal Judith Melzer with actor Liam Neeson; Eitan Weinberg, Brian Sutton, Jack Cohen, Steven Shamula, Eitan

Zomberg, Moshe Spirgel, and survivor Rene Slotkin. Neeson played Oskar Schindler in the Oscar-winning film, “Schindler’s List.”

Tears flow, hope rises, as 300 view ‘Names Not Numbers’ at MDS Stories were shared, tears were shed, yet hope and belief emerged as over 300 guests viewed a screening of the Holocaust documentary, “Names Not Numbers, A Movie in the Making,” at Manhattan Day School. The film, which featured the stories of seven Holocaust survivors — Herman Bienstock, Bronia Brandman, Reini Hanau, Robert Lindenblatt, Rachel Roth, Rene Slotkin, and Daniel Welner — was researched, filmed, edited and produced by MDS eight graders over the course of the year.

Actor Liam Neeson, who played Os-

kar Schindler in the Oscar-winning film, “Schindler’s List,” greeted the students personally and commented on the importance of their work in canonizing the stories of these Survivors. Director Steven Spielberg sent a congratulatory note to the class.

“These students, in their outreach and compassion … have shown us that this and future generations will not stand aside when they have a chance to tell a story that can make a difference for the good of all of us,” Spielberg wrote.

Through participating in Names, Not Numbers, the students gained a genu-

ine and empathetic understanding of the survivors, interviewing them and eliciting their experiences before, during and after the war.

Learning the stories of the survivors enabled the students to engage in meaningful discussions about the Holocaust.

The documentary provides insights into the lives of the survivors, the conduct of the perpetrators, and the heroism of many Jews and righteous Gentiles.

Eighth Grader Benjy Hild shared that “the experience put [his] everyday problems into better perspective.”

With the passage of time, it is the responsibility of the younger generation to retell the historical narrative and reality of the survivors during the Shoah, the most heinous genocide in modern times.

“In the years to come, we won’t be able to hear the stories from the survivors themselves,” says eighth grader Cailey Erber. “It’s important for us to pass on their stories to ensure that this never happens again.”

“The Names, Not Numbers program is a highlight of our eighth grade Holocaust curriculum,” says Judith Mel-

zer, associate principal and Holocaust Seminar instructor. “It is essential for us to remember the past and invest in the future.”

Her words were echoed by Head of School Raizi Chechik: “In hearing these voices of bravery, of wisdom, and of faith, our students become the bearers of the powerful legacy the survivors bequeath to us.”

The documentary will be archived for future generations in the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem, Yad Vashem, and in the Yeshiva University libraries.

Grandparents day at HANC

SKA’s adventure in Philadelphia

HANC’s Samuel and Elizabeth Bass Golding Elementary School in West Hempstead welcomed grandparents and special guests of the kindergarten, first and second grade students.

The guests came from all over the tristate area, and as far away as Virginia, Florida and Israel. The auditorium was filled to capacity with over 250 happy grandparents and others who were eager to see their children at school.

The program began with a special brunch in their honor and they also had the opportunity to view the “Welcome to HANC” video.

At the completion of the brunch, the visitors joined their grandchildren in different locations for a special arts and crafts project that they completed together. The children and

their grandparents decorated picture frames, planted flowers in decorated planters, and photo albums. From the looks on their faces, it was clear that they relished this special opportunity to visit with their grandchildren and spend time with them in school.

Following craft projects, the children accompanied their guests to the lunchroom for a tasty snack and played BINGO together.

At the conclusion of the program, the visitors were presented with a HANC bag filled with souvenirs and a “HANC IS HOME” magnet with their photo on it.

From the looks on their faces as they exited the auditorium, it was clear that they relished this opportunity to visit with their grandchildren and spend time with them in school.

YOSSers skate …for science!

The fourth grade boys at Yeshiva of South Shore turned a skating trip into a science adventure when they visited United Skates of America. The day started with a STEM lesson on the different materials, properties and functions of each part of the skate. Boys then paired up to test the distance of roller skates on the smooth rink versus the rough carpet. They compared data and concluded that skates can travel further and faster on a flat, smooth surface. It was then time to don their skates and energetically demonstrate their scientific knowledge on the rink. Fun was had by students, teachers and even principal Rabbi Avraham Fridman.

M’dor L’dor at HALB In an interactive culmination of their year of learning in both science and history, the junior grade of the Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls traveled to Philadelphia on May 22.

The day began at the Franklin Institute Science Museum where they participated in hands-on activities — including dissections!

The girls also toured the (unoccupied) Eastern State Penitentiary, once the most famous and expensive prison in the world, which is now an historic site with exhibits and an artist gallery. Incredibly, the prison has a remodeled shul and recently a bar mitzvah was held there. This day trip was a valuable opportunity for the SKA students to explore different dimensions of science and history outside of the classroom.

M’dor L’dor is an inspiring night that has been a HALB tradition for close to two decades.

The school’s fourth grade girls get to celebrate the glorious mesorah of their role as Jewish woman and mothers, and their love and appreciation for Am Yisrael and Medinat Yisrael.

The night begins kicked off with a buffet dinner followed by inspiring speeches from a mother, grandmother, and great grandmother chosen from the fourth grade parent body.

There is then a video montage depicting each girl in the grade on her own slide, with pictures of her and the generations before her.

The evening’s highlight was a performance put on by the girls in the auditorium. The girls’ songs expressed their appreciation to the previous generations for setting them on the right path, along with tefillot for the chayalim in Israel.

The evening is culminated with a simcha dancing in which mother, grandmothers and students all take part in.

THE JEWISH STAR June 1, 2018 • 18 Sivan

Pictured at MDS’ “Names Not Numbers” event, from left: Leah Roth, Avigayil Wildes, Cailey Erber, survivor Rachel Roth, and Zahava

June 1, 2018 • 18 Sivan THE JEWISH STAR

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By Debra Nussbaum Cohen, JTA One of this city’s largest hospitals has accused a Hasidic group that visits sick patients of lying about the hospital’s policy to limit access by volunteers to patient floors and rooms.

Dr. Andrew Brotman, senior vice president and vice dean for clinical affairs at NYU-Langone Health, said a claim by the Satmar Bikur Cholim — reported last week by JTA in a story carried

by The Jewish Star — that it is being barred from its hospitals is “an outright falsehood.”

Brotman said groups like Satmar Bikur Cholim may still bring food to hospital-approved volunteers at its facilities, but that a recent policy limiting direct visits to patients is meant to prevent interactions with medical staff that a hospital statement described as “chaotic, counterproductive and outright harmful.”

In the article, the Satmar Bikur Cholim claimed that it was being barred from the hospitals and from delivering kosher food because medical staff resented its role as patient advocates. The Hasidic group has threatened to call for a boycott of NYU hospitals.

The Satmar Bikur Cholim director, who asked not to be named, told JTA that the hospital objects to her group’s “strong patient advocacy,” which includes providing referrals to doctors and home health care, and counseling patients on such issues as end-of-life care. Halacha often conflicts with general practice on issues like ending life support, brain death and feeding patients who are deemed terminally ill.

The head of an association of Orthodox Jewish nurses — who herself works at NYU-Langone — weighed in on the spiraling dispute.

“My colleagues and I, frum NYU nurses, are terribly disappointed in how Satmar handled this,” said Blima Marcus, a registered nurse with a specialty in oncology who works at the Perlmutter Cancer Center. Marcus is president of the Orthodox Jewish Nurses Association, which has about 2,000 men and women in its network, she said.

NYU-Langone is known for having a large number of Orthodox Jewish patients and staff, Marcus said, and the hospital “is extremely culturally competent.”

Blima Marcus

A view of the NYU Medical Center on First Avenue in New York in 2014.

As an example, she said the hospital sends frequent notifications to staff about the Passover seders and holiday services it offers, including a temporary outdoor booth for Sukkot meals.

Marcus said the Satmar Bikur Cholim dispute with NYU reflects poorly on the Orthodox community as a whole and is embarrassing to her and her religious colleagues.

“The assumption that observers should be allowed access to health decisions is bizarre,” Marcus told JTA. “If I’m a patient talking to my physician about my advance directive or health care proxy and a Satmar woman delivering soup thinks she overhears something and asks if I want to talk about it, that is overstepping bounds.”

“It’s illegal, unethical and vastly inappropriate” for them to get involved in patients’ medical care, she said. “They should not be advocating. They should be delivering chicken soup and leaving.”

Brotman, who declined to speak with JTA for the original article, now acknowledged, in a statement, tensions over the group’s advocacy work.

Kenneth Wilsey/Wikimedia Commons

Satmar Bikur Cholim “wants to position itself as the ultimate authority on all aspects of healthcare, including choosing what treatments and doctors patients and their families should ask for, and which services doctors should accept or refuse, especially when it comes to end-of-life decisions,” he said.

“Conflating this bigger issue with the unsupervised delivery of food to patient floors is dishonest and deceitful, and intended solely as fear mongering to vulnerable populations for suspicious personal gains.”

The news release containing Brotman’s comments also asserts that Satmar Bikur Cholim “has gone out of its way to distort the truth by spreading outright falsehoods and misleading innuendo, and lashon hara — which is antithetical to the very ethics and values of the Jewish community.”

Scott Seskin, an attorney representing the Satmar group, said the hospital’s new statement is damaging.

“Rather than engage in a constructive dialogue, NYU has chosen to insult an esteemed organization which has been providing services to the

Dr. Andrew Brotman

community for more than 50 years,” he said. The statement “shows how little respect they have for the organization, and it grossly underestimates the support it has from the Satmar community.”

NYU says that Satmar Bikur Cholim is welcome to restock the hospital’s own bikur cholim rooms, which it has set aside at two of its hospitals (a third is planned at its orthopedic hospital in Manhattan). However, the volunteers may not personally deliver food to patients. NYU says its own hospital volunteers will bring the food from the bikur cholim rooms to patients.

“First and foremost, NYU-Langone Health’s bikur cholim program is as extensive as any hospital system in the city, if not the country,” Brotman said. “Fulfilling the religious and cultural needs of everyone who comes to our hospitals is integral to ensuring the welfare and well-being of our patients and the communities we serve. It is fundamental to our very mission.”

JTA learned that other members of the Hasidic community, including some representing the Satmar movement, met Friday morning with NYU-Langone officials, suggesting that Satmar Bikur Cholim does not speak for the entire community. A source who provided photographs of the meeting said, “NYU reassured their full commitment to serve the community and will continue to accommodate bikur cholim activities in accordance with the hospital policies.”

The source wrote: “The community greatly appreciates the @NYULangone leadership for their understanding and cooperation.”

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THE JEWISH STAR June 1, 2018 • 18 Sivan

NYU-Langone fires back at Hasidic bikur cholim

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June 1, 2018 • 18 Sivan THE JEWISH STAR

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‫כוכב של שבת‬

SHAbbAT STAR

What does it takes to lead a unit, and a people?

From Heart of Jerusalem

Rabbi biNNY FReeDMaN

Jewish Star columnist

O

ur son Yair, after a grueling process, was recently accepted into an elite unit within the paratroopers, and we were invited after two months to visit his base for a special “parents’ day.”

Some of what we hear from our son is not surprising: grueling physical exercises, uncompromising regulations, and even harsh conditions when the boys were out in the field (shetach) for two weeks, all designed to break them down as individuals and mold them as a unit. And from the tired yet grateful look on his face when he finally gets out for a Shabbat and walks in the door to hugs only a Jewish mother can give, they are clearly doing a good job of pushing these boys to their limits.

So what kind of men are chosen to lead such a special unit? And what does the IDF view as critical in the shaping of such an elite unit, arguably one of the top 10 or 20 fighting units in the IDF (read: in the entire world)?

A few weeks ago, Yair told us we would be getting a visit from one of his commanders who would be paying a “home visit” so the commander could get to know his soldier’s family, and the parents could get to know their son’s commander.

Clearly our son was in awe of his commanders, describing how they run faster, sleep less, push harder and are incredibly proficient at all they do. So I was looking forward to seeing what such a hardened rock of a commander in such a tough unit would be like. Imagine my surprise when a boy walked into our home with a disarming smile, who looked like he was barely past his bar mitzvah!

He was clearly shy, extraordinarily nice, and after half an hour we realized he was giving of his time on a Friday afternoon instead of being home with his family when he had just experienced the same

grueling week our son had, so we let him go. I was mystified as to how this child was held by my son in such awe.

A few weeks later, when we found ourselves invited to his base down south and had a chance to hear from and meet all of his commanders, I realized they were not just commanders, they were trying to be his Jewish mother as well!. And I was left wondering, what did this have to do with forging a group of men into an elite fighting force? his week, we read the parsha of Be’ha’alotcha, which contains a challenging story. The Jewish people are in the desert and getting close to their ultimate destination of entering the land of Israel. After witnessing all the miracles of the Exodus, receiving the Torah from G-d Himself, and falling into the terrible debacle of the sin of the Golden Xalf, they have received the second tablets, built the Mishkan suggesting forgiveness, and seem to be at last headed in the right direction. Clouds of glory protect them, pillars of fire guide their way, and manna falls for them from the heavens every morning, as they draw ever-closer to the land of Israel. Suddenly, they are … hungry?! … and complain.

What is most surprising is Moshe’s reaction. He suddenly seems to give up!

“And Moshe hears the nation crying … and G-d is exceedingly angry and it was evil in Moshe’s eyes. And Moshe said to Hashem (G-d) why have You … placed the load of this whole nation on me?

Have I born this nation? Have I given birth to it that you would say to me carry it in your lap as the nursemaid carries the suckling (baby) …?”

How can it be that when the Jewish people engage in an orgy of idolatry, worshipping a Golden Calf, at the foot of Mount Sinai, Moshe both gains

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forgiveness for the Jewish people, and disciplines the sinners with no hesitation nor any complaint?

Yet here when the people basically want a varied menu, Moshe completely loses it! What is really going on here?

Rav Soleveitchik suggests that there was a fundamental change here that relates both to the role of Moshe as a leader as well as to the nature of the Jewish people’s transgression. Moshe suggests he does not want to be a nursemaid (an omein). Moshe is our teacher, hence he is called Moshe Rabbeinu; what is the difference between a teacher and a nursemaid? And why does Moshe suddenly realize that his previous role of master and teacher is not enough; here he needs to be a nursemaid? hen the Jewish people worship the Golden Calf, they are essentially looking for a spiritual outlet; they have not forgotten G-d, they simply are struggling with how one deals with the day after having such a direct revelation with G-d; how do we worship? They are essentially searching for the best path towards meaning in a post Egypt world which they now think may be without Moshe.

Here, however, they are expressing a hedonistic pagan desire for physical satisfaction; they want meat! And that requires an entirely different model of leadership. Clearly, the Jewish people are not there yet; they are not the adult (or even the mature teen) looking for existential meaning; they are still the baby needing to nurse; needing physical satisfaction. And that requires a nursemaid.

To help a person too concerned with their own needs, you first have to validate those needs, before you can show them there are better ways to be fulfilled.

When the Jewish people fell to the temptations

A leader must feel and connect with the needs of those he leads.

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Levites’ work rules change with age Parsha of the Week

Rabbi avi biLLet Jewish Star columnist

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fter officially inaugurating the Levites, and having them go through a unique purification process, G-d told Moshe, “This is [the rule] regarding the Levites: Beginning at the age of 25, they shall participate in the work force engaged in the Communion Tent’s service. Then, when they are 50 years old, they shall retire from the work force and not serve any more. [During their duty period] they shall perform their appointed tasks, serving their brethren [the priests] in the Communion Tent. They shall not, however, participate in the divine service.

This is what shall be done for the Levites as far as their appointed tasks are concerned.” (8:24-26) In the previous two Torah portions, in chapter 4, we were told the Levites would work from ages 25 to 50.

Let us look at three questions. First, why the discrepancy in the starting age, 25 versus 30? Second, why forced retirement at 50? Third, is this rule applicable to all Levites, regardless of the difficulty of their assigned jobs?

Ibn Ezra compares the ages of 30 and 50 to numbers close to multiples of seven when he says “30 years is close to 4 “weeks,” while 50 is 7 “weeks” — at that point one’s strength begins to wane. The work we’re talking about here is the labor of carrying.”

Rabbi Yosef B’chor Shor echoes sentiments expressed by Ramban when he notes that “25 is when lighter work begins, including singing. At age 30, heavier carrying kicks in, as strength kicks in (based

on Avot 5:21). The rabbis also taught that at 25 he begins his training, while at 30 he begins to serve.”

This leads me to wonder what the Levite was doing until age 25? There is a tradition that the Levites were the teachers of Israel. Of course, they couldn’t all teach and help the Kohanim at the same time, so perhaps they were meant to be engaged in study and teacher training when not in regular duty and reserve duty to work in the Temple. any commentaries look at a debate between Rashi and Ramban over what the Levites did when their time of service was over.

Rashi indicates that the 50 year old would no longer bear the burden of carrying on the shoulder, but he returns to locking gates, singing and loading the wagons.

Ramban quotes the Sifrei that they could return to lock gates and to do the work of Bnei Gershon (loading curtains onto wagons), and that the Sifrei makes no mention of their returning to singing.

Ramban indicates that they should have been counted from 20, because at that age they could sing, lock gates, and load wagons until they reached the proper age to do their “avodah” (he also distinguishes between their wilderness jobs and their permanent jobs when the Mihkan/Mikdash would be in a set place in the Land). He indicates that the only work which would end is the carrying of the vessels (job of Kehat) and so perhaps Gershon and Merari should not be counted in this way as all of their work can also be done after turning 50!

His answer is that everything becomes based on the Bnei Kehat’s job, and therefore all are counted the same, from 30 to 50.

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While there is no room to share their analyses here, both Rabbi Eliyahu Mizrahi and the Maharal (Gur Aryeh) come to Rashi’s defense after the great attack of Ramban in this issue. But the truth is that the commentaries are split over what is considered Levite work from which they were excluded at 50, and what they could continue to do after 50, most notably in the realm of singing.

Was it considered Avodah (service) or was it something else?

Malbim, for example, distinguishes between “sherut” and “avodah,” noting that while at 50 the Levi could no longer do avodah, he could do sherut.

Netziv and Chizkuni say singing is permitted after age 50. Meshekh Chokhmah makes a similar point as he distinguishes between song of the mouth (permitted after 50!) and song from instruments (though he doesn’t mention if they may play instruments after 50). he Midrash Rabba points out that fewer than a third of counted Kehatites were between 30 and 50 (2,750 out of 8,600), unlike Gershon who had over a third between those ages (2,630 out of 7,500), and Merari who had over half its population between those ages (3,200 out of 6,200).

Kehat was different because the service of carrying the Ark assumed a risk. And even though they were counted before their jobs were assigned, those who were deemed unworthy of this task were not assigned to the typical Kehathian service, and were not counted in the 30 to 50 census (Netziv makes a similar argument about those unfit for war not being counted in the general 20 and up national census, which would suggest the population was significantly higher than 600,000 males ages 20 and up).

Life comes in stages, and every stage has a role for you.

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of the Golden calf there were many mitigating circumstances: they did not know where Moshe was, they were overwhelmed and they had not yet fully received the Torah. But this was an entirely different challenge. A G-d-filled world and the building of a model society with the Torah as a blueprint implies limits: as we say in the Shema: ve’lo taturu Acharei levavchem ve’acharei Eineichem: that we should not follow everything our eyes see and heart’s desire; just because we want something does not mean it is good for us. But a pagan society based on the worship of nature suggests that there are no limits; whatever we want we can have. It is a world promulgated on following one’s desires because they are ‘only natural’. his type of limitless self-indulgence requires an entirely different type of leadership. The nursemaid, suggests Rav Soleveitchik, negates her own needs and makes them secondary to the needs of the child. She is a constant companion to the child responding to every desire until gradually weaning them form such base needs. She must first nurse and give herself over, before being able to wean and shape. This was completely out of character for Moshe, thus his resistance and struggle. Indeed both Moshe and the Jewish people will take this journey together for nearly forty years, before the next generation will be ready for a different reality.

Three thousand years later, we are living in a generation markedly different from the ethos of the army when it was created to defend and build the nascent State of Israel. Perhaps today’s Jewish leaders need to give themselves over to the needs of their soldiers and students, before they are ready to be weaned and become leaders of in their own right.

A true leader must feel and connect with the needs of those he or she leads, just as Moshe himself had to learn to do in the desert, so long ago.

It may take time, but I’m guessing it will be more than worth the effort. And we are privileged to be able to watch such a journey.

Shabbat shalom from Jerusalem.

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It seems that loading and unloading wagons is not a kind of “service” that is dependent on the strength that comes with age. The Levites are essentially being told, life comes in stages, and every stage has a role for you. Sometimes there is overlap in what you can do through life-stages, sometimes there is not.

Guarding the Torah might not necessarily be a physical burden (honestly it is more difficult to lift the beams onto wagons than it is to “carry” the Ark), but as Netziv notes in 7:9, there is a kind of intention (Kavvanah) that is most necessary, and most difficult to achieve, that becomes a kind of burden, without which the carriers could face certain death. And so the burden is not as much a physical one, as it is a mental one.

Which suggests that our mental capacities and abilities to concentrate need extra efforts past a certain age. May we be blessed to defeat the natural decline that may come with age, and find new strength to concentrate on our tasks of being guardians of the Torah.

Luach

Fri June 1 • 18 Sivan Beha’aloscha Candlelighting: 8:01 pm Havdalah: 9:11 pm

Fri June 8 • 25 Sivan Sh’lach Candlelighting: 8:06 pm Havdalah: 9:15 pm

Five Towns times from White Shul

Kosher Bookworm

AlAn JAy GerBer

Jewish Star columnist

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irst on my list is a revised edition of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik’s “The Lonely Man of Faith” by Rabbi Reuven Ziegler. In a previous essay on this precious work, Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin notes the following: “The book is not an easy essay to read. Rabbi Soloveitchik refers often to ideas presented by others without stating what they said. He writes in long sentences with thoughts within thoughts. Yet, this is a classic that people refer to frequently. Thus, despite these difficulties, and even if readers disagree with the Rav about the importance of faith, or how he defines it, it is well worth one’s time to read this book. The basic idea about the uniqueness of people who go beyond the thinking of the general population and the tensions they feel is correct.”

Rabbi Ziegler concludes: “Thus, in applying Rabbi Soloveitchik’s thought, one must reassess which side of the dialectic he posits requires strengthening today.

It may turn out that it is the same element Rabbi Soloveitchik felt the need to highlight in his time and place, or it may turn out that it is the opposing element; in either case, the dialectical whole, and the value system it expresses, retains its cogency and significance.”

Rabbi Ziegler provides the reader with a valuable reading guide to assist in following two outlines of this work, one that briefly traces its overall structure and the other that details the content of each chapter.

A related new work, also recommended, is “Scholarly Man of Faith,” edited by Rabbi Ephraim Kanarfogel, editor-in-chief of the international journal, Jewish History, and Rabbi Dov Schwartz, editor of Da’at, a leading journal of Jewish thought.

This volume addresses a series of fascinating yet until now less-explored teachings of the Rav. And them are the Rav’s take on major per-

Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik

sonalities in the Tanach, in light of his views on emotion, intellect and the interrelationship of these facets in the Rav’s teachings.

Among those whose essays are featured are Rabbi Dr. David Shatz, editor of the MeOtzar HaRav series and the Torah u-Maddah Journal; Rabbi Shalom Carmy, editor of Tradition maga-

zine of the RCA; and Dr. Shira Weiss, author of the recently published, “Ethical Ambiguity in the Hebrew Bible.

And last but not least for this week’s listing is “Jewish Law As Rebellion: A Plea For Religious Authenticity and Halachic Courage,” by Rabbi Dr. Nathan lopes Cardozo, founder and dean of the David Cardoza Academy in Jerusalem and author of the weekly column, “Thoughts to Ponder.”

In his review of Rabbi Cardozo’s work Rabbi Jonathan Sacks writes: “Agree or disagree, you will find yourself thinking hard and deep about the current state of Jewish law and life, and that makes it a well worth reading — a new chapter in one of the great Jewish traditions: dignity and dissent.”

To this observation I say, I agree. Go and enjoy the challenge.

Beha’alotecha asks: Why did Moshe despair?

Torah

rABBi dAvid eTenGoff

Jewish Star columnist

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f Moshe than we have encountered before.

Instead of the brave advocate of the Jewish people and undaunted servant of Hashem, we are met with a morose and despondent Moshe on the cusp of complete capitulation: “Moses said to the L-rd, “Why have You treated Your servant so badly? Why have I not found favor in Your eyes that You place the burden of this entire people upon me? Did I conceive this entire people? Did I give birth to them, that You say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom as the nurse carries the suckling,’ to the Land You promised their forefathers? … Alone I cannot carry this entire people for it is too hard for me.

If this is the way You treat me, please kill me if I have found favor in Your eyes, so that I not see my misfortune.” (Bamidbar 11:11-12, 14-15) This is in stark contrast to Moshe’s earlier reaction to the Eigel Hazahav (Golden Calf) incident, when he steadfastly rose to our nation’s defense: Moses pleaded before the L-rd, his G-d, and said: “Why, O L-rd, should Your anger be kindled against Your people whom You have brought up from the land of Egypt with great power and with a strong hand? Why should the Egyptians say: ‘He brought them out with evil [intent] to kill them in the mountains and to annihilate them from upon the face of the earth?’ Retreat from the heat of

Your anger and reconsider the evil [intended] for Your people.” The L-rd [then] reconsidered the evil He had said He would do to His people. (Shemot 32:11-12 and 14) What can account for this radical change in Moshe’s emotional state? The answer, I believe, may be found in examining the context of each of these events. The Eigel Hazahav debacle is introduced by the verse: “When the people saw that Moses was late in coming down from the mountain, the people gathered against Aaron, and they said to him: “Come on! Make us gods that will go before us, because this man Moses, who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.”

(Shemot 32:1) Without a doubt, these are the words of a terrified people, who were steeped in a slave mentality acquired as a result of 210 years of Egyptian servitude. At this point, they could not imagine going forward on their grand march to Eretz Yisrael without a physical presence in their midst, without a constant reminder that they had a leader literally before them.

Their initial misguided goal to construct the Eigel Hazahav, therefore, had nothing to do with avodah zarah (idol worship) per se, and everything to do, instead, with reassuring themselves that their future as a nation was intact. Moshe recognized the extent of this deep psychologi-

cal flaw unhesitatingly jumped to their rescue, begged Hashem, “Retreat from the heat of Your anger and reconsider the evil [intended] for Your people.” ur parasha’s passage wherein Moshe declares, “If this is the way You treat me, please kill me if I have found favor in Your eyes, so that I not see my misfortune,” however, has an entirely different focus than that of the Eigel Hazahav.

As our Sages make quite clear throughout Rabbinic literature, Moshe was repulsed by his people’s uncontrollable desires for hedonistic pleasure: But the multitude among them began to have strong cravings (hitavu ta’avah). Then even the children of Israel once again began to cry, and they said, “Who will feed us meat? We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt free of charge, the cucumbers, the watermelons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. …

Moses heard the people weeping with their families, each one at the entrance to his tent. The L-rd became very angry, and Moses considered it evil.

(Bamidbar 11:4-5) Based upon various Midrashic and Talmudic sources, Rashi, in his Commentary of the Torah, notes that “free of charge” and “the people weeping with their families” are, in actuality, code words for rejecting the Torah’s precepts — particularly in the area of forbidden marriages (er-

We are relentlessly challenged by the adverse cultural norms that surround us.

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vah). As a result, Chazal (our Sages of blessed memory) labelled this entire incident, “Kivrot haTaavah” (the Graves of Desire).

In a now celebrated June, 1974 public lecture, my rebbe, Rav Soloveitchik zatzal, presented a penetrating analysis of the underlying attitude that prevailed at Kivrot ha-Taavah. His perceptions enable us to more fully comprehend Moshe’s reaction to our forebears’ behavior: “Kivrot ha-Taavah stemmed from a desire for a pagan way of life, with its insatiable desires, unlimited lusts, and complete absence of boundaries. This pagan lifestyle is the antithesis of Judaism, which demands self-discipline. The Torah, therefore, detests paganism because, unlike idolatry — the worship of a short-lived object of clay or metal — paganism is often infectious.”

Armed with these insights, it is little wonder that “the L-rd became very angry, and Moses considered it evil,” for, in truth, Kivrot ha-Taavah was nothing less than a rebellion against the authority of the Torah and the Almighty Himself.

Unfortunately, Kivrot ha-Taavah echoes until our own historical moment. Just as our ancestors in Egypt descended to the 49th level of impurity and absorbed the pagan standards of their depraved Egyptian society, so, too, are we relentlessly challenged by the adverse cultural norms that surround us.

With Hashem’s help and our deepest desire, may we have the fortitude and conviction to guard ourselves against negative societal influences and, instead, wholeheartedly embrace the clarion call, “You shall be holy, for I, the L-rd, your G-d, am holy.” (Vayikra 19:2) V’chane yihi ratzon.

Second chances: Thoughts for Beha’aloteha Torah

rABBi mArc d. AnGel Jewishideas.org

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ne of my uncles, who was quite overweight, was told by his doctor that he must go on a strict diet. The doctor prescribed to help him in his weight loss program. Several months passed and my uncle had not lost one pound. When I asked him about his diet, he replied that his doctor was a quack. “He prescribed pills for me but the pills didn’t work at all. They killed my appetite.”

No, I am not making up this story.

My uncle, like many people, want to continue their lifestyles — even when unhealthy — rather than make serious changes that require self-sacrifice. My uncle wanted to take the pills to lose weight, but he didn’t want to lose his appetite in

the process. He wanted to eat fattening food but not get fat.

Many people know they ought to change one thing or another about themselves, but they want the change to happen without them having to alter their attitudes or behaviors. When people fail, they want a second chance. But unless they are seriously ready to change, the second chance won’t be of much use. Mark Twain once quipped: “It’s easy to quit smoking; I’ve done it a hundred times.”

This week’s Torah portion includes a passage dealing with second chances. A group of Israelites had been unable to participate in the Paschal sacrifice because they had been ritually impure on the date of that ceremony. They asked Moses: “Why are we prevented from bringing the offer-

ing of the Lord in its appointed season among the children of Israel?” (Bemidbar 9:7) Moses was not sure how to answer them so he posed the question to G-d. G-d replied: if people were unable to participate in the Paschal offering because they were ritually impure or because they were too far away to get to the site of the offering, they could have a “Pessah sheini,” a second opportunity a month later to participate in the Paschal offering.

But, G-d added, if people had been ritually pure and near the site of the first Paschal sacrifice, and yet chose not to participate, then such people are guilty of a terrible sin and are not eligible to participate in the second Paschal sacrifice.

The lesson: if people sincerely want a second

My uncle wanted to eat fattening food but not get fat.

chance, they may have it. But if they are negligent in their duties, then they are not entitled to a second chance. n inevitable feature of human life is making mistakes. The sign of greatness is to recognize our mistakes and misjudgments and seek a second chance. Even if one’s original error had been made with the best of intentions, one needs the strength to say: I was wrong; I need a second chance.

Not only should one admit to errors, one should actively undertake to correct those errors to the extent possible. One should realize that making changes is rarely a simple matter; it involves self-sacrifice and genuine commitment. Often, personal errors have had a negative impact on others, and one needs to seek a second chance to make things right again.

There are no magic “diet pills” that can help us achieve our goals without our own personal efforts.

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THE JEWISH STAR June 1, 2018 • 18 Sivan

Books for your summer reading pleasure

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26 June 1, 2018 • 18 Sivan THE JEWISH STAR

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What’s wrong with defining anti-Semitism?

Jonathan S. tobin JNS editor-in-chief

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f there is one issue on which there ought to be a political consensus even in an era of almost unprecedented partisan division, it should be opposition to anti-Semitism. Yet a dispute over whether the federal government has any business defining Jew-hatred threatens to undermine what should be a bipartisan coalition opposing its spread.

That’s the dilemma facing the Republican and Democratic sponsors of the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act of 2018. The legislation, which is being championed by Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) and Rep. Pete Roskam (R-Ill.), has hit a roadblock in the form of opposition from the American Civil Liberties Union and Arab-American groups who are angry about the fact that the bill includes a definition of anti-Semitism. They worry that any law that does that will chill free speech about Israel.

The reason for the dustup stems from a prob-

lem with enforcement of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that banned race and nationalorigin discrimination, but not religious bias. That was corrected by a 2010 ruling from the Department of Justice that specifically sought to include discrimination against minority faith communities, such as Jews, Muslims and Sikhs. The current bill would codify that ruling in law.

The letter, which was written by Assistant Attorney General (and current Democratic National Committee Chair) Tom Perez, stated that a definition of anti-Semitism used by the U.S. State Department should be used when the Department of Education is asked to deal with acts of anti-Semitism on federally funded college campuses.

The definition states that anti-Semitism involves, among other things: “Denying the Jewish people their right to selfdetermination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor; Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not

expected or demanded of any other democratic nation; Using the symbols and images associated with classic anti-Semitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.”

But that’s a bridge too far from some civil libertarians and anti-Israel activists. They don’t merely want to exercise their right of free speech that allows them to spew hate at Jews; they want the government to turn a blind eye when their hate spills over to acts of illegal discrimination. he necessity of the AntiSemitism Awareness Act stems from a long legal battle over a spate of incidents at the University of California at Irvine in 2003. As Kenneth Marcus, a former head of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (his nomination

by President Trump to be Assistant Secretary for Human Rights at the Department of Education is still pending) wrote in 2010 in Commentary, the school was racked by anti-Semitic demonstra-

Anti-Semitism wasn’t considered actionable under the Civil Rights Act.

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tions resulting in acts of violence and intimidation directed at Jewish students. The context was the Second Intifada, during which Palestinian terrorists killed more than 1,000 Jewish Israelis.

When Jewish leaders called for action from the Department of Education to combat this wave of anti-Semitism, the government failed to act because this form of hate was not considered actionable under the Civil Rights Act. But now that the department has closed this loophole for hate and Congress is prepared to confirm that action, critics are claiming that the new law will chill the free speech of those who want to criticize Israel, even though the bill specifically states that it doesn’t infringe upon anyone’s First Amendment rights.

There is good reason to be wary of any measure that expands the power of the federal government. But the notion that the open acts of discrimination against Jews that generated the controversy should somehow be protected speech is not one that stands up to scrutiny.

At the heart of the dispute is the desire on the part of those who harbor hatred for Israel to pretend that anti-Zionism isn’t anti-Semitic. They say one can oppose Israel without discriminatSee Anti-Semitism on page 28

Behind Erdoğan’s boycott threat against Israel Viewpoint

bEn CohEn

Jewish News Service

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urkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is in the midst of one of his periodic bouts of Israel-hatred, lashing out at the Jewish state and its leaders with all the insults (“Nazi,” “apartheid,” “child-killers” and so forth) that he has deployed with such aplomb in the past.

Yet the heat of the would-be sultan’s anger— the constant scowl, the gangster strut, the unnerving sense that he gains emotional release through these fulminations—is not quite the same thing as a tangible threat. With each one of these quarterly (on average) rants, he lets slip that there is nothing he can actually do about Israel beyond denouncing it.

For that reason, Erdoğan’s call this week for a boycott of Israeli goods embracing all 57 member states of the Organization of Islamic Co-operation (OIC) sounded more like a howl of frustration than anything else. The vague, sweeping manner with which he suggested the freezing of trade in both directions—“No product should be

brought from there anymore. Naturally, we will assess this situation in the same way”—brings to mind all those pesky matters of detail that Erdoğan’s aides are probably loath to bring up for fear of offending him.

Like, for example, the fact that Turkish businesses place a supreme value on their trade with Israel, and that, in the final pinch, Turkey’s economy needs Israel’s a little more than the other way around. In 1995, Israel’s imports from Turkey were valued at $250 million. Come 2017, Israelis purchased nearly $3 billion of Turkish goods.

Not only that, the volume of trade between Turkey and Israel has increased year-on-year, even during the 2010-16 period, when Erdoğan last kicked the Israeli Ambassador out of Ankara. Israel is a highly regarded foreign market for Turkey because—as a recent paper from Israel’s Moshe Dayan Center explained it—Israel’s per capita GDP, one of the world’s highest, “allows high consumption rates that were, and still are, a significant target for Turkish exporters in all sectors. … The annual Israeli GDP and also the Private Sector Consumption [PSC] are more than 30 percent higher than Turkey’s GDP, even though Israel’s population is only a tenth of Turkey’s.” That perhaps explains why Mehmet

Buyukeksi, the chairman of the Turkish Exporters Assembly, told The Jerusalem Post in May last year that trade between the two countries could reach $10 billion by 2022. s distasteful as Erdoğan would no doubt find such buoyant projections, he has done little to indicate that he intends to curb private-sector commerce between Turkey and Israel. Were he to suspend trade with Israel by imposing politically motivated sanctions, the consequences of such a vendetta for Turkey—for its currency, for foreign investor confidence, for its already frayed relations with the United States and Europe, and for the domestic livelihoods that have become reliant on the Israeli market— would be disastrous.

Indeed, the only countries that can afford to continue advocating an economic quarantine of Israel are the handful, like Iran, which are boycotting it already. With its relationships in every corner of the world, including in its own region, Israel has successfully separated commercial ties from national security and regional politics from trade agreements. This trend is not one he can realistically hope to reverse.

And yet, from his vantage point, the struggle with Israel is perhaps just beginning. It is a little more than 12 months since his victory in

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a national referendum granted him dictatorial powers, and it is, at present, a little more than a decade before he will leave office—by some calculations, he could still be Turkey’s president in 2034, at the age of 81.

Nothing that Erdoğan has said or done in the past 15 years at Turkey’s helm suggests that he will ever play the role of the great conciliator, as was hopefully imagined by more than one U.S. administration and more than one Israeli prime minister. Instead, he repaid that confidence by becoming, in February 2017, the first-ever leader of a NATO member state to exhort a 6-year-old girl to carry out a suicide operation. “She has the Turkish flag in her pocket,” Erdoğan said of the sobbing child, dressed in the uniform of the Turkish Special Forces, who joined him on stage at his ruling AKP Party’s annual congress. “If she becomes a martyr, Insh’allah, this flag will be draped on her.”

As ever, the ongoing Erdoğan spectacle will divide its audience between those who see the Turkish president as a pragmatist given to theatrics, and those who see an imperial purpose behind his criminal military incursions into Syria, his political maneuverings with the Russians and the Iranians, and his broader projections See Boycott on page 28

Commentary by Martin Sherman, JNS hat if all two million Palestinians of Gaza marched to the Israeli border fence with an olive branch in one hand and a sign in Hebrew and Arabic in the other, saying, “Two states for two peoples: We, the Palestinian people of Gaza, want to sign a peace treaty with the Jewish people—a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders, with mutually agreed adjustments.

— Thomas L. Friedman, “Hamas, Netanyahu and Mother Nature,” New York Times, May 22, 2018.

The really disconcerting thing about New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman is that at times, he can actually produce sensible and insightful articles, as long as he is not writing (or more precisely, ranting) on Israel. Or Donald Trump. Or the Palestinians. Or Barack Obama.

Sadly, however, whenever he makes one of his far-too-frequent forays into any of these “touchy” topics, his journalistic output invariably degenerates into patently partisan pamphleteering.

But even compared to his past inanities, his May 22 column, “Hamas, Netanyahu and Mother Nature,” is a real doozy, a masterful blend of personal bile and bias, liberally laced with logical inconsistencies, factual inaccuracies and even blatant non sequiturs.

Friedman begins by feigning journalistic impartiality and paying perfunctory lip service to “balance,” with some cursory condemnation of Hamas, acknowledging “its utter failure to produce any kind of decent life for the Palestinians there, whom Hamas has ruled since 2007.”

He accuses the Islamist terror group of “Cynici[al] and Reckless Disregard for One’s Own People in Pursuit of a Political Fantasy [capitals in original],” and of “facilitating the tragic and wasted deaths of roughly 60 Gazans by encouraging their march, some with arms, on the Israeli border fence in pursuit of a ‘return’ to their ancestral homes in what is now Israel.”

But then, predictably, he reverts back into his almost Pavlovian, Israel-bashing, Bibi-phobic mode — dismissing the importance of his previous censure of Hamas and shifting the

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onus onto Israel: “So much for the ‘bad’ Palestinian leadership. What’s Israel’s approach to the secular, more moderate Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Answer: nothing.”

The secular, moderate Palestinian Authority! Really?

Like Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, who not long ago referred to Jews desecrating the Temple Mount with their “filthy feet”?

Or who explained that the slaughter of millions of Jews during the Holocaust was due to their practice of usurious money-lending? Or who orchestrated a vicious campaign of incitement against the Jewish state and praised the bloody violence in terror attacks against the Jews, proclaiming: “We bless every drop of blood that has been spilled for Jerusalem, which is clean and pure blood, blood spilled for Allah, Allah willing.

Every Martyr [Shahid] will reach Paradise, and everyone wounded will be rewarded by Allah.”

That moderate, secular PA? Friedman has, of course, long been captive to the seductive deception of two-statism. At the base of this dogma is the belief that, among the Palestinian Arabs, there is a leader sufficiently reasonable to cut a deal acceptable to Israel and sufficiently authoritative to ensure its implementation. riedman would do well to heed the somewhat contrite confession of yet another dogged advocate of two-statism, Aaron David Miller, formerly a senior State Department official, deeply involved in the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, and today, vice president of Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

In a recorded exchange, with the suitably gloomy title, “Today’s Bleak Prospects for Israeli-Palestinian Peace,” Miller acknowledged: “I would draw from my own experiences that when we failed in diplomacy, and particularly in the pursuit of Arab-Israeli negotiations, it was almost always because Americans—let’s forget the Israelis and the Palestinians for a moment— chose to see the world the way they wanted it to be, rather than the way it actually was.”

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Significantly, this closely parallels the assessment expressed in the opening excerpt by Michael Mandelbaum, professor of American foreign policy at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, that “the American conduct of the peace process … was based on an inadequate understanding of the pathology it attempted to cure.”

Of course, Friedman will have none of this hard-nosed realism. Accordingly, he embarks on a flight of fantasy into the realm of “what if.”

Wistfully, he asks: “What if all two million Palestinians of Gaza marched to the Israeli border fence with an olive branch in one hand and a sign in Hebrew and Arabic in the other, saying, ‘… We, the Palestinian people of Gaza, want to sign a peace treaty with the Jewish people’ …”

Well, perhaps the question Friedman should ask is: Why don’t they? A truthful answer to this would be: “Because it is not in their nature!” riedman speculates on how better things might have been “if only” the hopelessly improbable had transpired. He laments: “If Hamas had chosen to recognize Israel and build a Palestinian state in Gaza modeled on Singapore, the world would have showered it with aid and it would have served as a positive test case for the West Bank. Hamas chose otherwise.”

Is Friedman is banking on the ignorance or the amnesia of his readers? After all, the international community has showered aid on Gaza, only to have most of it diverted into construction of military infrastructure to be used against Israel or into the personal bank accounts of the corrupt cliques who rule the enclave, and their complicit cronies.

Surely, Friedman must know that Gaza has not degenerated into the current cesspool that it is because of any lack of international funding or of Israeli largesse. It has done so despite an abundance of both!

Friedman “graciously” acknowledges that “Israel has no choice but to defend its border with Gaza with brute force.” But then, nimbly sidestepping the morass in Gaza, he goes on to berate Israel anyway, regarding Judea-Samaria:

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“I find it a travesty that a country with so much imagination in computing, medicine and agriculture shows so little imagination in searching for secure ways to separate from the Palestinians in the West Bank.”

As it turns out, the real problem is not achieving “separation,” as the Gaza episode clearly shows. The real problem is to ensure that the post-separation realities will not be those that arose following the separation in Gaza—i.e., that Israel will not face a hostile mega-Gaza on the fringes of Greater Tel Aviv, overlooking Ben-Gurion Airport and abutting the trans-Israel highway. learly willing to stand up for his so-called “liberal” principles down to the last Israeli, Friedman pontificates: “Israel has never been stronger than it is today. Hamas has never been weaker. If there were ever a time for Israel to take a few calculated risks to try to nurture a different pathway with Palestinians in the West Bank, it’s now.”

Leaving the reader to puzzle over what on earth a weak Hamas in Gaza has to do with taking huge risks in Judea-Samaria, Friedman rails on with puerile pique: “Unfortunately, its [Israel’s] prime minister is too cowardly, and America is too slavishly supportive, for that to happen.”

While I have many criticisms of Netanyahu, it is patently absurd to accuse him of being cowardly, unless Friedman is suggesting that to be “courageous,” Netanyahu must bow to enemy demands; unless to be “courageous” is to concede to pressures to expose Israeli citizens to unacceptable risks.

And as for the overly “slavish support” of America, Friedman seems to have forgotten that for eight years, the White House was occupied by a president who was anything but “slavishly supportive” of Israel—and yet nary a sign of separation appeared on the horizon. I wonder why!

Clearly then, drivel is drivel, even when it appears in the purported paper of record, leaving one to wonder how this stuff even gets published.

Martin Sherman is the founder and executive director of the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies.

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Considering ‘The Ideological War Against the West’ Commentary by Deborah Fineblum, JNS uy a box of popcorn, find a seat, and then sit back and let your mind relax into Entertainment Land, where you forget about this troubled world for an hour or two.

If that’s your idea of a perfect night at the movies, you’ll probably wish to skip “The Fight of Our Lives: Defeating the Ideological War Against the West.”

But if it’s a different kind of experience you want—one that challenges your comfort zone— check out this latest release from Doc Emet Productions. That’s what 250 folks who gathered last week at a Boston-area movie theater for the film’s New England premier did. This was the 14th screening in a series of theaters, community centers, synagogues, churches, museums and universities across the United States, Canada and Israel, for the production company’s fourth documentary wrestling with some of today’s toughest issues.

Producer/director Gloria Z. Greenfield set the tone of the evening with this Martin Luther King Jr. quote: “Our lives begin to end the day we remain silent about the things that matter.”

Within minutes, the film was rolling—a tour de force featuring 31 keen observers of today’s global tumult, including academics, authors, think-tank executives, anthropologists and other experts. Greenfield said she set out “to examine the broader context of the war against Western civilization and values, an ideological war that’s a persecution and assault on the Judeo-Christian tradition and on our freedoms.” So she went in search of the leading experts and scholars “who are looking at various aspects of the problem so, seen together, we can begin to see the broader context of the war against the West.”

‘The light fog of fascism’ In the film, Alan Dershowitz, who in addition to practicing high-profile law is an emeritus law

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Protesters at the statue of Christopher Columbus in Columbus Circle on Oct. 9, 2017, calling for the removal of the statue.

Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images

professor at Harvard University and a leading constitutional expert, told Greenfield, “When I teach students, I don’t just see 150 faces. I see a future president of United States, a future chief justice, a future editor of The New York Times, a future senior partner of Goldman Sachs. And they are being miseducated in ways that completely undercut Western values. … The kind of light fog of fascism that seems to be descending on many universities poses a tremendous danger for the future of Western values because it threatens to miseducate the future leaders who have to promote the values we cherish.”

The ivy-covered walls of academia are also familiar haunts for Peter Wood, who was a tenured anthropology professor at Boston University before becoming president of the National Association of Scholars. “The film underscores the fact that the university system was founded on intellectual freedom to pursue the truth, and once that freedom gets sidelined so young people no longer hear ideas and people they disagree with,

it attacks the principles of Western civilization,” he says. “When you send your child or donate to a university where 90 percent of tenured faculty subscribe to one political and ideological belief, students never hear both sides.”

Greenfield says she’s had some of her more enthusiastic responses from small-town audiences. “Our church found it hard-hitting, and welldocumented and researched,” says Pastor Philip Morris Jr. of Parkway Church of God in Sevierville, Tenn. Though his congregants “already had a sense of the dangers to Western civilization,” Morris says the film “exposed some issues not always visible to the rank and file, such as the anti-Semitism on college campuses and the attacks on Christians in Arab countries.”

For executive producer George Violin, “one of the strengths of the film is it makes it apparent to all that attacks against Israel do not end with Israel. History shows us that, although the Jews are the first to be attacked, they are never the last.”

‘A chilling effect on free speech’ Brooke Goldstein, who directs the Lawfare Project, which provides pro bono legal services to protect the rights of Jews the world over, told Greenfield that “what political correctness does is it declares war on the marketplace of ideas and says, ‘You can’t talk about that, that’s offensive.’ … This has a chilling effect on free speech.”

This struck a chord with another audience member, Janet Stein Calm, who, as president of the American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants of Greater Boston, saw “disturbing parallels” between Germany of the 1930s and today’s America. “With pressures for self-censorship on the rise, we could end up in the same situation again if we’re not careful, especially with England removing the Holocaust from their curriculum so as not to

offend Muslims, and the media holding Israel to impossibly higher standards than any other country.”

Greenfield notes that “it’s a time when divisions have gotten deeper and uglier in this country, with what’s happening in Europe as a decidedly cautionary tale. I hope this film connects the dots so we can be aware of the dangers of what it would be like to live in an environment that doesn’t ensure freedom of speech. Everything we learn from those interviewed forms a symphony of expertise that I hope will inspire deep conversations on campuses, at dining-room tables and in the public square.”

After the screening, longtime Boston-area Israel advocate Margot Einstein said when Niall Ferguson of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University says in the film that Western civilization owes a debt to the dead, the living and the unborn, “it hit me. Gradually, in our media, our schools and our universities, we’re noticing there are certain words we can’t say anymore—certain ideas we can’t express. What kind of future are we creating?”

So, unlike other films, it’s too soon to know if this movie will have a happy ending.

“We tend to concentrate too much on the wars already waged and won—against fascism in Germany and communism in the [former Soviet Union],” says author and former Harvard professor Ruth Wisse, now a senior fellow with the Tikvah Fund, and who was among the film’s featured experts. “But analogous dangers have re-emerged in at least equally threatening form.”

The film, she states, “clarifies the challenges that lie before us. I can’t imagine anything more important than identifying them and confronting them.”

For more about the film or to order a DVD, visit www.thefightofourlives.com.

THE JEWISH STAR June 1, 2018 • 18 Sivan

Thomas Friedman, liar-in-chief of the NY Times

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Continued from page 26 ing against Jews. But since they are demanding that the Jewish people should be denied rights that are not denied to others, that is a distinction without a difference. If you think that only the Jews have no right to a homeland or to selfdefense, then you are practicing discrimination against them and, as the lawyers say, the term of art for such unique discrimination is called antiSemitism.

It is not and should not be illegal to voice calls for Israel’s destruction or to engage in the sort of double standards and libels against Jews that the State Department definition entails. But when advocacy for such hateful opinions crosses over into discriminatory actions, that is illegal. This is why the bill proposed by Deutsch and Roskam clarifying the authority of the government to act in such cases ought to be passed—and quickly.

Contrary to its critics, the law does not forbid criticism of the Israeli government and its policies. That’s a point that Israel-haters, specifically pro-BDS groups like Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace, seek to obscure.

Their stands are not rooted in a desire to alter Israel’s policies or to change its borders so as to accommodate a Palestinian state. They want Israel—the one Jewish state on the planet—to be eliminated. Every time they raise the banner of BDS, acts of anti-Semitism up to and including violence and intimidation of Jewish students inevitably follow. And they don’t want the relevant federal authorities to be able to enforce the law against such discrimination.

That’s why the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act has the support of a broad coalition of groups, including the more liberal Anti-Defamation League and American Jewish Committee, as well as centrists like AIPAC and the Jewish Federations of North America. Defining anti-Semitism won’t impinge on advocacy of diverse opinions about faith or the Middle East. But the idea that anti-Semitic intimidation ought to be given a pass requires a discriminatory mindset towards Jews that has no place at federally funded institutions or the public square in a democratic republic where the rule of law prevails.

Jonathan S. Tobin is editor in chief of JNS.

Boycott...

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yond heartbreaking.

Holstein gave me a copy of Jeff’s 1966 poem that day, which I’ve had framed on my wall ever since. I began a tradition of calling or writing her every May 4, on Jeff’s secular “yahrzeit.”

Three years ago, she emailed saying “It means so much to me that you still keep Jeff in your thoughts. It’s amazing, so long after his death, you and other people who never knew Jeff still think of him. How he would love that!”

In 2016, at age 94, Holstein drove to my house for lunch, and for the first time I showed her Jeff’s poem on the wall; she beamed. This year, on May 4, I emailed her, as usual. The next day my phone rang.

“Steve? It’s Elaine. Thank you for the email.

I actually was planning to fly to Kent State this week to speak at the annual ceremony. But I was just diagnosed with terminal cancer, and I was about to call you and let you know,” she said.

I expressed my sorrow and concern, but Holstein immediately said, “Really, I’m perfectly content to settle for this. I’m 96, a good age, and it looks like this will go pretty fast.”

And then, she sighed.

“I had a good life. The only horrible thing that ever happened to me was Jeff’s death.”

Holstein raised her children in New York, first in the Bronx and later Plainview.

After her 1969 divorce from Jeff’s father, she lived in Queens with her second husband, Artie Holstein, a high school principal, whom she married in 1971.

Elaine remained in Queens after Artie’s death and spent the winters in Florida until her cancer diagnosis. She then moved to an assisted living facility in Wayland, Massachusetts, near her son Russell’s home.

Elaine Holstein once told me that on May 4, 1970, she woke up as one person, and by the time she went to sleep that night, she was someone else entirely. I think many of us who remember that horrendous day can say exactly the same thing.

Anti-Semitism...

RNSP

@rockawaynassau

Continued from page 16 were obtained against any National Guardsman.

Holstein, who was divorced from Jeff’s father, Bernard, heard about the shootings on the radio as she drove home from work and thought to herself, “I’m going to call Jeff and tell him to come home and wait until this blows over.” She dialed his number at college; a young man answered, and she asked to speak with Jeff. After a pause, he said, “He’s dead.”

As Holstein sank onto her bed, thinking it had to be a mistake, her soon-to-be second husband, Artie, grabbed the phone and was given the name of the hospital where the victims had been taken.

“I thought maybe somebody had borrowed Jeff’s wallet. This doesn’t happen to people you know,” Holstein said. “But then I heard Artie say, ‘Oh, he was wearing a leather ring with a peace insignia?’ And I knew it was Jeff.”

Within hours, the entire country had seen the iconic photograph, which won the Pulitzer Prize later that year. I asked Holstein how she managed to deal with it.

“In the first year,” she remembered, “I was just running. We drove across country to California, and walked into a place, and there was that photo, wall-sized, of Jeff lying there. I felt like someone was hitting me on the head, just pounding me. I think what’s happened over time is that’s how Jeff looked when he was lying in bed, so the only way I can bear to look at it is to think that’s Jeff sleeping.

“I kind of resent the fact that everyone knows Jeff as the figure on the ground and not as he really was.”

We ended our interview, I shut off the mike and Holstein grabbed her pocketbook.

“I don’t want you to only think of Jeff like that either,” she said, taking out a well-worn red wallet. “Come, look.”

She showed me pictures of Jeff with her older son, Russell, photos from elementary school, of his bar mitzvah, of him playing drums. It was be-

Continued from page 26 of power and influence in the Middle East, in the Balkans and in the sizable Turkish diaspora throughout Western Europe.

In the context of the victory he rightly anticipates in Turkey’s snap June 24 elections, Erdoğanmay yet decide that announcing an official boycott of Israel—even when he knows it cannot be effectively implemented—will provide

him with an extra fillip in an Islamic world that he aspires to lead. That would certainly mean an ugly propaganda campaign that targets Israel and all those who consume its products, very possibly accompanied by laws that restrict commercial and political ties with Israel as well.

It will win Erdoğan the plaudits of Hamas and admiring editorials in Iranian media outlets. But not much more.

By Renee Ghert-Zand for Nefesh B’Nefesh RAANANA, Israel — In August 2014, Dr. Morris Hartstein went on a trip to Gondar, Ethiopia, where thousands of Ethiopians seeking to immigrate to Israel live and wait while Israel considers their eligibility to make aliyah.

On his second day there, Hartstein showed up for the afternoon mincha service and saw more than 100 people waiting patiently. He thought they were there to pray.

It turns out they were there to see him.

“They heard there was an eye doctor present and they came hoping to get help,” Hartstein said.

Hartstein had come from his home in this Tel Aviv suburb to volunteer at the Jewish aid compound in Gondar, bringing along his wife, Elisa, and their four children. But Hartstein, an ophthalmic, plastic and reconstructive surgeon, was not there in an official medical capacity and had only a penlight with which to check their eyes.

With the help of an Israeli university student volunteer acting as translator, Hartstein managed to examine all of the Ethiopians, who claim Jewish ancestry and are known as Falash Mura. He found that half of the Ethiopians had ocular health problems, often stemming from constant unprotected exposure to harsh sunlight and unsanitary living conditions. The Ethiopians had dense cataracts, severe conjunctivitis, trachoma and corneal scarring. Hartstein also saw children with crossed and lazy eyes in need of correction.

“At that point, all I could do was send them to the local hospital,” said Hartstein, who works in Israel as director of oculoplastic surgery at Yitzhak Shamir Medical Center (formerly known as Assaf Harofeh Medical Center). “But it turned out that none of them followed through.

They either couldn’t afford the 50-cent fee or didn’t know how to navigate the medical system.”

Hartstein refused to leave things as they were. He and his family began making more frequent trips to Ethiopia, running periodic clinics during which he sees up to 500 patients at a time. He brings with him hundreds of pairs of donated eyeglasses and large quantities of eye drops and medications.

Flying back and forth to do volunteer work in Africa was the kind of thing Hartstein, 54, never could have foreseen being a part of his life in Israel, where he and his family moved more than a decade ago from St. Louis. The family initially spent a sabbatical year in Raanana, during which Hartstein, a tenured professor at St. Louis University, established ties with Assaf Harofeh hospital. The sabbatical extended to two years, and then the family decided to stay permanently in Israel. They formally made aliyah in 2009.

Hartstein has always been a Zionist. He grew up Modern Orthodox

rs 35 Yeagrity e Of Int

Dr. Morris Hartstein treating a Palestinian girl from Gaza with a lymphatic malformation in one of her eyes. She received treatment in an Israeli hospital.

in St. Louis, and both he and his wife had spent time in Israel but they never seriously thought about immigrating until the sabbatical.

Although Hartstein knows many American doctors who commute back to the U.S. for work, he decided that option wasn’t right for his family. Instead he stayed in Israel, doing reconstructive and medically indicated surgery at the hospital while also maintaining a private practice in Herzliya, where his work includes elective plastic surgery.

“You can make a good living as a physician in Israel, especially if you have a surgical or procedural specialty you can do in private practice,” Hartstein said. “I like being invested in Israel and the medical community here. I like to stay in regular touch with my patients. I couldn’t do that if I were commuting.”

Elisa Hartstein runs her own online company designing and selling clothing for breastfeeding women.

Having learned Hebrew from a young age, Hartstein had no problem with the language, and he quickly mastered Hebrew medical terminology.

But there were other challenges. Hartstein was accustomed to a certain way of doing things from his medical training at Harvard University and Bellevue Hospital at New York University, and from his work at St. Louis University Hospital. In Israel, the medical culture was different.

“There is just a single secretary for my department, no one has a designated private office, and people just walk in on you when you are in the middle of something — even while examining a patient,” Hartstein said with a laugh.

One pleasant surprise, he said, is that politics stops at the hospital door. Hartstein treats many Palestinian patients, including cases from Gaza. He and others work hard to secure funding and permits to get such patients into Israel for proper care.

After one 5-year-old Palestinian girl with a rare lymphatic malformation engulfing her right eye came with her grandmother to Hartstein for treatment, the girl’s father — who was not permitted to accompany her into Israel — did not hesitate to post a photo on social media of the yarmulke-wearing Hartstein with a sincere message of praise and thanks.

In the summer of 2014, as the war in Gaza raged, Hartstein treated another young Gazan girl who had suffered severe burns from a house fire. The doctor and his staff restored her eyelids using skin grafts.

“She and her family were in the hospital all summer. They couldn’t return home,” Hartstein said. “They were treated very well.”

Hartstein said he is in regular contact with his Gaza patients and a Palestinian ophthalmologist there with whom he coordinates patient care.

Meanwhile, the couple’s eldest child, Eliana, 18, recently completed high school and now serves in the Israeli army. She and her siblings — Dalia, Zack and Jonah, now all teenagers – have gone back to Ethiopia several times to help out with their father’s clinics.

Hartstein has deepened his connections to Ethiopia. He established a program in 2017 to bring Ethiopian medical residents to Israel for a month of training at his own hospital. On his trips to Ethiopia, Hartstein lectures and performs surgery at the Gondar hospital.

“It turned out I needed an Ethiopian medical license, so I got that with the help of the Himalayan Cataract Project,” Hartstein said, referring to an organization that works to eradicate preventable and curable blindness in the developing world.

He recently started a cataract surgery program in Gondar, where the chair of the eye department performs cataract surgery for $50 to $80 per patient. The funding comes from a group called the Struggle to Save Ethiopian Jewry. There have been 15 surgeries and the outcomes have been good, according to Hartstein.

Overall, Hartstein said, the move to Israel was one of the smartest decisions he ever made.

“We love living in Israel, and I enjoy practicing in a public Israeli hospital,” Hartstein said. “I wouldn’t have had such a wide range of patients in the U.S. as I have here, from Palestinians to famous rabbis to everyone in between. I am part of a vibrant and dynamic medical Israeli community, and I feel that I am really making an impact.”

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THE JEWISH STAR June 1, 2018 • 18 Sivan

Eye doc moved to Israel, makes difference in Africa

29

CAlendar of Events

Send your events to Calendar@TheJewishStar.com • Deadline noon Friday • Compiled by Zachary Schechter Seeing Things Clearly: [Weekly] Join Rabbi Shalom Yona Weis at Aish Kodesh for a shiur for women and high school girls titled “Seeing Things Clearly- Learning to View Our World and Our Lives Through Positive Lenses. 8:45 pm. 894 Woodmere Pl, Woodmere.

Thursday May 31

Parsha Shiur: [Weekly] Join Michal Horowitz at the YI of Woodmere for a special shiur on the parsha. 9:30 am. 859 Peninsula Blvd, Woodmere.

516-295-0950.

Iyun Tefilah: [Weekly] Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum at the Young Israel of Lawrence Cedarhurst. 9:45 am. 8 Spruce St, Cedarhurst.

Learn Maseches Brachos: [Weekly] Join Rabbi Eliyahu Wolf at the YI of Woodmere for a shiur on Maseches Brachos. 5:15 pm. 859 Peninsula Blvd, Woodmere. 516-295-0950.

Halacha Shiur: [Weekly] Join Rabbi Yoni Levin at Aish Kodesh for a halacha shiur. 9:30 pm.

894 Woodmere Pl, Woodmere.

Tuesday June 5

Friday June 1

Erev Shabbos Kollel: [Weekly] Eruv Shabbos Kollel starting with 6 am Chassidus shiur with Rav Moshe Weinberger and concluding with 9 am Chevrusah Learning session with Rabbi Yoni Levin. 894 Woodmere Pl, Woodmere.

Biale Rebbe Tish: The Biale Rebbe of Bnei Brak will be hosting a tish at the home of Eliezer and Susan Schwimmer. 9:30 pm. 574 Church Ave, Woodmere. 917-272-4045.

Sunday June 3

Celebrate Israel Parade: Join tens of thousands of New Yorkers and march up 5th Avenue in support of the state Israel. (See story, page 1.)

Timely Torah: [Weekly] Join Rabbi Ya’akov Trump, assistant rabbi of the Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst, for a shiur on relevant Halachic and philosophical topics related to Parsha Moadim and contemporary issues. Coffee and pastries. 8 am. 8 Spruce St, Cedarhurst.

Celebrate Israel in NYC on Sunday

The annual Celebrate Israel Parade runs up Mahattan’s Fifth Avenue this Sunday, June 3, from 11 am to 4 pm. As was the case last year (photo), Long Island will be well represented. See story, page 1.

Learning Program: [Weekly] At Aish Kodesh led by Rav Moshe Weinberger following 8:15 Shacharis including 9 am breakfast and shiurim on subjects such as halacha, gemara and divrei chizuk. 894 Woodmere Pl, Woodmere.

Gemara Shiur: [Weekly] Rabbi Moshe Sokoloff YI of Woodmere gemara shiu.r 9:15 am. 859 Peninsula Blvd, Woodmere. 516-295-0950.

Torah 4 Teens: [Weekly] Yeshiva program for high-school age boys & young adults with Rabbi Matis Friedman. 9:15 am-12:30 pm. 410 Hun-

gry Harbor Rd, Valley Stream. Torah4teens5T@ gmail.com.

Rabbi Menachem Bombach: The community is invited to hear from Rabbi Menachem Bombach at the home of Drs. Suri and Ari Weinreb. 8:30 pm. 310 Eastwood Rd, Woodmere.

Monday June 4

Women’s Shiur: [Weekly] Dr. Anette Labovitz’s women shiur will continue at Aish Kodesh.

10 am. 894 Woodmere Pl, Woodmere.

Breakfast Connect: [Weekly] Breakfast Connect is a business and networking group that meets for breakfast at Riesterer’s Bakery and to discuss business and networking opportunities.

7:30-8:30 am. 282 Hempstead Ave, West Hempstead. 516-662-7712.

Women’s Shiur: [Weekly] Rebbetzin Weinberger of Aish Kodesh will give a shiur on the “Midah of Seder in our Avodas Hashem.” 11 am.

894 Woodmere Pl, Woodmere.

Jewish History: [Weekly] Rabbi Evan Hoffman YI of Woodmere talk. 8:15 pm. 859 Peninsula Blvd, Woodmere. 516-295-0950.

Halacha Shiur: [Weekly] Join Rabbi Moshe Sokoloff at the YI of Woodmere for a halacha shiur. 8:40 pm. 859 Peninsula Blvd, Woodmere.

516-295-0950.

Gemara Shiur: [Weekly] Join Rabbi Dr. Aaron Glatt at the YI of Woodmere for a gemara shiu.

9:15 pm. 859 Peninsula Blvd, Woodmere. 516295-0950.

Wednesday June 6

Timely Tanach: [Weekly] Join Rabbi Ya’akov Trump of the Young Israel of Lawrence Cedarhurst for a shiur on Sefer Shoftim. 8 pm. 8 Spruce St, Cedarhurst.

Chumash and Halacha Shiur: [Weekly] Shiur with Rabbi Yosef Richtman at Aish Kodesh.

8 pm. 894 Woodmere Pl, Woodmere.

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Teach our childre n well 5 Towns conferenc e told: Deliver Tora with joy to h • 6 Tamuz, 5777

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note remarks that opened the fourth While Torah is nual an- passed down way for the mesorahforever true, the ideal tive Five Towns Community Collaboraaccording Conference on to be conveyed the time, emphasizing to the middah of children — and Sunday.

“What is the Torah how an everlastingto our that the primary of Torah and the kids need now?” ingredent needed in Yiddishkeit is embeddedlove he asked. “What today’s chinuch simcha. their beings — worked in 1972 is in necessarily changes won’t work today.”

Twenty-six speakers, “You’re still talking over time.

Rabbi Weinberger, about what rebbetzins, educators, including rabbis, for you in 1972 and insisting thatworked d’asrah of Congregationfounding morah ers and community leadwhat should work lecturers that’s Woodmere Aish Kodesh in and mashpia at sue that challengeeach addressed a key isMoshe Weinberger, for your kid,” Rabbi the YU, reminded families and parents Shila”a, said in key- that Torah and educators in attendance frum communities. The event, schools in will not be received the Young Israel hosted at of Woodmere, if it’s not was orgaSee 5 Towns Rabbi Moshe hosts on page Weinberger, of 15 Kodesh in Woodmere, Congregation Aish delivered keynote

STAR speech.

Presenting their topics, from left: Baruch Fogel of Rabbi Touro College, “Motivating our children to motivate themselves”; Reb-

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Presenters at Sunday’s conference, from left: Elisheva director of religious Kaminetsky, SKA kodesh, “Empoweringguidance, limudei choices”; Rabbi

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• Vol 16, No 34

betzin Shani Taragin, 7:53 • Torah columns Tanach coordinator and mashgicha 6:46 pm, Havdalah nika, and Morah”; ruchanit at Midreshet Towns candles Rabbi • Five rah V’avodah, Ephraim 5777 Congregation Polakoff, don’t”; “Miriam: Meyaledet, To• 24 Elul Bais 15, 2017 Rabbi Jesse Horn Tefilah, “Teens Meiech • Sept. technology: What and kotel, of Yeshivat HaNitzavim-Vayeil you know and ognize your bashert”; what you and “Helping children balance ideology Rabbi Kenneth pleasure”; Esther of Congregation Hain Wein, “How to Beth Shalom, rec- A-OK to “When it’s say yes.”

Reuven Taragin, Yeshivat Hakotel founder and director of Eytan Community Education Feiner of The Conferences, White Shul, “When Yitzchak met “Torah tips on Rivkah: Torah’s Star tion and maintain to build Jewish first menThe how a strong By marriage”; of martial the Hebrew joined love”; Michal Towns “Ahavas in Horowitz, The FiveRabbi Sunday Yisrael: In theory or Long Beach on at its in pracnew Academy of

Super Spec ialS chanukat habayit Avenue in celebrating a on Church elementary school Woodmere. beginnings that the humble

tice?”; Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum, d’asra, Young mora Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst, “Raising successful children”; Rebbetzin Lisa Septimus, yoetzet hala-

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By The Jewish to remember Cedarhurst pausedmiracles of 9/11, at the the n on Sunday. the heroism, and commemoratio village’s annual Rabbi Shay Schachter of WoodIn his invocation, of the Young Israel the Master and (top right photo) pray that G-d, all the strength mere said, “we world, grant us Creator of the to stand firm together against of and the fortitude of extremism, of bigotry, all forms of terror, and of all evil that can be hatred, of racism, forms in our world.” who found in different obligation to thosenever solemn a have “We 11th to injured on Sept. died or were said Mayor Benjamin but we also forget what happened,” “We saw evil, Weinstock (bottom).

America.” of best survivor saw the (middle), a 9/11 78,” reAri Schonburn Fate of “Miracle and waitand author of that day. He was called his experiences on the 78th floor when elevators ing to change hit.

Chief the first plane hurst Fire Department Lawrence-Cedar the playing of saluting during victims.

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Arthur James Balfour

t was a minor news story when it broke in the summer of 2016. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced he was suing Great Britain over the Balfour Declaration, issued on Nov. 2, 1917. But as we observe the centennial of the document this week, it’s important to understand that although his lawsuit was a stunt, Abbas was serious. More than that, the symbolism of his See Tobin on page 22

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or the Palestinians, the year zero is not 1948, when the state of Israel came into being, but 1917, when Great Britain issued, on Nov. 2, the Balfour Declaration—expressing support for the establishment of a “Jewish national home” in Palestine.

So central is the Balfour Declaration to Palestinian political identity that the “Zionist invasion” is officially deemed to have begun in 1917—not in 1882, when the first trickle of Jewish pioneers from Russia began arriving, nor in 1897, when the Zionist movement held its first congress in Basel, nor in the late 1920s, when thousands of German Jews fleeing the rise of Nazism chose to go to Palestine.

The year 1917 is the critical date because that is when, as an anti-Zionist might say, the Zionist hand slipped effortlessly into the British imperial glove. It is a neat, simple historical proposition upon which the entire Palestinian version of events rests: an empire came to our land and gave it to foreigners, we were dispossessed, and for five generations now, we have continued to resist. Moreover, it is given official sanction in the Palestine National Covenant of 1968, in which article 6 defines Jews who “were living permanently in Palestine until the beginning of the Zionist invasion” as “Palestinians”—an invasion that is dated as 1917 in the covenants’ notes.

As the Balfour Declaration’s centenary approached, this theme is much in evidence.

There is now a dedicated Balfour Apology See Cohen on page 22

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At declaration’s centennial, a source of joy and derision

To British, Palestine just another colony

Corbyn boycotts B’four event

Britain Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn— who in 2009 called Hezbollah and Hamas his “friends” — said he would not attend a dinner commemorating the centennial of the Balfour Declaration. Prime Minister Theresa May she would attend “with pride” and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu would be her guest.

“We are proud of the role we played in the creation of the State of Israel and we will certainly mark the centenary with pride,” May said. “I am also pleased that good trade relations and other relations that we have with Israel we are building on and enhancing.”

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IsraAID brings relief to U.S. disasters

By Ron Kampeas, JTA Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, and WASHINGTON — For 17 years, the then the wildfires in northern California.

Israeli NGO IsraAID has been performPolizer recalls that he was wrapping ing search and rescue, purifying water, up a visit to IsraAID’s new American providing emergency medical assistance headquarters in Palo Alto on Oct. 8 and and walking victims of trauma back to was on his way to a flight to Mexico to psychological health in dozens of disas- oversee operations after a devastating ter-hit countries.

No 25 earthquake there when he got word of • Vol 16, But no season has been busier than the wildfires. “I literally had Luach page 19 9:15 • to do a Uthis past summer and fall, its co-CEO Yo- turn,” he said Havdalah this week in an interview 8:07 pm, tam Polizer said in an interview — and ting Candleligh at the Israeli embassy in Washington.

Polizer spoke with the exhilaration of an executive whose team has come through a daunting challenge. “We’re the people who stay past the ‘aid festival’,” he said, grinning, describing the See IsraAID on page 5

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Long Islanders aliyah to the for a enough to flight page 16. through Al’s charter the smiling in” and making he’s waited long will follow,” to do this it’s time, NBN’s El to Israel the first some of “all said she’s wanted family, friends, “Hopefully, everyone t of boarding boarding the move Here are on July 3, going Hills (left) and was land, said excitemen olim, for others Shpage 16 through on July 1 carpet ride of Kew Gardens While the olim on emerged the promised of the and her school, from teaching See. 201 carpet to Her love of Israel for many than Yehoshua holy land, — he retired palpable time. visits to the the dream

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5777 • Five Tamuz, “The last few months have been un2017 • 20 believable,” he said, listing a succession • July 14, Parsha Pinchas of disasters that occupied local staff and Niveen Rizkalla working with IsraAID in Santa Rosa, Calif., in volunteers since August: Hurricane Harthe wake of deadly wildfires there. vey in Texas, Hurricane Irma in Florida,

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Mr. Jacobs, JN who Yechiel Rybsztajn containson of s, a package plus named RYBSZTA he is the afterward Brussels, man, saying nephew. Not long was received in Mr. Jacobs’ and a pair of tefillinto the United States. Rybsztajn ing a tallis g his travel for five years,” which in Belgium were so nice, papers authorizin Brussels “we stayed Poland. So However, gentile people of went through in Shaydels, the “The what we recalled.

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to an — we believe investiture speech Delivering his Wilf Campus in at YU’sThe Newspaper of our Orthodox communities Berman, with many assembly of 2,000 ty, Rabbi Dr. Ari values that personify YeWashington Heights, in by livestream, that of the “five more listening spoke of the Rabbi Berman the five central “Five Torot, or institution.” teachings, of our believe in Tor“We do not just Chayyim — Torat at Emet but also and values must that our truths he said. live in the world,” teachings, YU’s other central Adam,” “Torat he said, are “Torat Tziyyon, the Chesed,” and “Torat Torah of Redemption.” formal cereFollowing the community parmonies, the YU street fair at an “InvestFest” Am- tied street fair on Amsterdam Avenue.

11 was a along at the “InvestFest” See YU on page Star

Jewish of Yeshiva UniversiVayera • Friday, November 3, 2017 • 14 Cheshvan 5778 • Luach page By The president 21 • The fifth Torah columns pages 20–21 VolSunday 16, No 41 said •on

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